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NIHIL OBSTAT

JOSEPH WILHELM, S.T.D.,
Censor deputatus.

IMPRIMI POTEST

►I- GULIELMUS,

Episcopus Arindelensis,
Vicarius Generalis.

Westmonasterii,
die 13 Dec.y 1906.

THE GREAT SCHISM
OF THE WEST

L. SALEMBIBR

PROFESSOR AT THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF LILLE

AUTHORISED TRANSLATION BY

M. D.

LONDON

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PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

The period covered by our narrative is marked by one
of the most distressing crises in history.

An unparalleled schism rends the Church in twain,
weakens and lowers the papacy by dividing it, and
lessens the respect which is its due. Simultaneously
heresy breaks out afresh, and produces Wickliffe and
John Huss, who in turn prepare the way for Luther.
Sovereigns like the Dukes of Anjou twice invade the
Italian peninsula, while, in the north, Robert of Bavaria,
and in the south, Ladislas of Naples, take advantage
of the decay of ecclesiastical power to get the upper hand
of the Popes, so as to gratify their ambition or their
avarice, to invade the Papal States, and even to desecrate
the Eternal City herself. Finally, certain dogmatic
errors, combined with the weakening of authority, give
rise to a multitude of disciplinary and moral disorders,
which the perplexities of the time prevent from being
put down. All the past trials of the Church appear to
revive, all her future crises exist in embryo in this un-
fortunate schism, which lasts nearly half a century
(1378-1418).

It is not then surprising that this phase of history
should have latterly attracted the special attention of
authors, and have given rise to the deepest critical
researches. To-day we are no longer satisfied with

PREFACE

documents collected by certain annalists of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, who were less historians than
romance- writers, led astray by prejudice, or too often
blind with passion. The day will soon dawn when full
knowledge will enable a just and final judgment to be
pronounced on questions hitherto obscure.

In the course of our long and sometimes painful
labours we have tried to observe the Ciceronian rule
repeated twenty years ago by Leo XIII. : Quis nescit
primam esse historiae legem ne quid falsi dicere audeat ?
deinde ne quid veri non audeat ? ^ First, let the historian
say nothing false : next, let him conceal nothing true.

Every conscience is bound by the first rule ; but the
sincerity of the historian is sometimes subjected to an
almost intolerable strain by the second.

Is not the telling of certain special trials which touch
our dear mother the Church almost like exposing family
failings to the gaze of the public ? Yet it must be done
if conscience and historic truth are to be duly respected.
If some Christians have been so ill-advised as to imagine
religious truth would gain from the concealment of
historic truth, if this is still a stumbling-block to some
Cathohcs, let them bear in mind the words of the Gospel :
" 0 men of little faith, wherefore do ye doubt ? "

In the seventeenth century the learned Labbe, in his
first volume of the Councils, remarks at the outset :
" Non tali auxilio nee defensorihu^ istis indiget Ecclesia^
In a letter dated March 12, 1870, just before his death,
Montalembert thus wrote to Baron de Hubner about

* De Oratorij ii. 16. De atudiis hutoricis, a letter to Cardinals Pitra, de
Luca, and Ilergeurother, 1883.

PREFACE

his Life of Sixtus F. : " You have neither dissembled
the shadows nor the stains so inseparably interwoven
with the human element, which is so conspicuous and
powerful in the Church, and therefore you throw into
still greater relief the divine element, which always
carries the day in the end, permeating our minds with its
soft convincing light." Thus, too, Newman, in his
Historical Sketches, ii. p. 2S1, speaks of " the endemic
perennial fidget which possesses us about giving scandal :
facts are omitted in great histories, or glosses are put on
memorable acts, because they are thought not edifying ;
whereas of all scandals such omission, such glosses are
the greatest."

The Sovereign Pontiff has just renewed this advice to
the clergy of France ; putting them in mind of this first
principle of scrupulous scientific probity.

" God does not want our lies," ^ he says. " The
historian will be all the better able to manifest the
Church's divine origin, so far transcending all that is
purely terrestrial and natural, in proportion as he is
faithful to keep back nothing of the trials which she has
had to experience in the course of the ages through the
frailty of her children, and sometimes even of her
ministers. Studied in this fashion, the history of the
Church in itself affords a splendid and conclusive proof
of the truth and divinity of Christianity." ^

The study of these great religious crises, which con-
trast so strongly with those of our own times, imbues the
soul with indescribable consolation and strength. Our

^ Job xiii. 7.

'^ Encyclical to the archbishops, bishops, and clergy of France, 1899.

vii

PREFACE

trials of to-day are instinctively compared with the
still more terrible trials of days gone by.

Pascal's profound saying is as applicable to the
beginning of the fifteenth century as to the end of the
nineteenth : " There is joy in the shock of the tempest,
when you know your ship will weather the storm."

University Catholique de Lille,

Feast of our Lady of Mount Carmel,
July 16, 1900.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST
CHAPTER I

THE CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM AT THE END
OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY

The Great Schism of the West brings the fourteenth
century to a sad close, and dashes the beginning of the
fifteenth with trouble and anxiety. It divides the
political, as well as the ecclesiastical world, and breaks
up Christian Europe into several hostile camps. It gave
rise to problems which survived it, and some of them are
still unsolved. Doubtless the rehgious disorders which
then sprang up have disappeared ; the doctrinal
uncertainties which it perpetuated too long have been
radically, if not universally, extinguished by the Vatican
Council ; but the historic question has made but little
progress : On which side was the real Pope, the rightful
successor of St Peter ?

For forty years the Church was vainly trying to
ascertain who was her true head, a Pontiff who could
claim an undisputed recognition. What a fearful crisis
was this for the Christendom of that era ! How painful
were these struggles, the consequences of which were
felt right on into the middle of the nineteenth century,
keeping alive in France the potential schism known as
Gallicanism ! Happily the trial is unique in the whole
of the Church's history.

A 1

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

It cannot be ignored : in a certain unhappy period of
her history the Church had to see anti-popes rend her
seamless robe in twain, and bring disunion into her
divine kingdom on earth. The outcome of monarchical
caprice or of popular revolution, these unscrupulous,
rash, and transient intruders very quickly make their
exit from the scene, in which they were only players, and
their influence is as ephemeral as their titles were vain.
The faithful quickly forgot, if they had ever known, the
names of Ursinus, Romanus, and Novatian, and the
sacrilegious pretensions of an intriguer hke Gilbert of
Ravenna, or weak-minded extravagances like those of
Peter de Corbiere.

It was not so with the fatal division which occurred
in 1378. The dualism became immediately so plainly
evident, was so strongly upheld by antagonistic interests,
and so well sustained by opposing forces, that the con-
flict appeared incurable from the outset. Was it to go
on for ever, despite the unity promised by Jesus Christ ?

It was to be dreaded, especially when, later on, for a
period of eight years, three Popes simultaneously
assumed the tiara, and divided amongst themselves into
three rival obediences a scandalised and perplexed
Christendom.

" Things were going badly," wrote Froissart, " and
had oiu" faith not been strongly settled in mankind, and
in the grace of the Holy Ghost, who enlightened the
hearts of those who had gone or who had been led astray,
and held them firmly united, it would have been ruined
and thrown down." ^ Was the stream of tradition flow-
ing from a divine source, after fourteen centuries to be
spHt up into three branches, which would never reunite ?
An entirely different result was to follow, and an entirely

' Froibsart (Kervyn de Lettenhove's Ed.), vol. xi. p. 251.

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

different conclusion would have to be inferred. " What
was to them a curse in their days is for us the treasure-
trove of history," says Le Maistre. " It proves that
St Peter's throne is unshakeable, for what human
institution could survive such a trial ? " ^

On this point our foes are as assertive as our friends.
" A temporal kingdom would have come to grief," writes
a sceptical historian, " but so extraordinary was the
organisation of the spiritual kingdom, so indestructible
was the papal idea, that this rift, though the deepest of
all, only helped to demonstrate its indivisibility." ^

The very excess of this evil was to afford a fresh and
more striking and conclusive proof of the divine origin
and necessary unity and perpetuity of the Church. The
Catholic world, after forty years' suspense, awaited
such a demonstration, and Providence was about to
supply it.

§ 1. The State of the Catholic World.

What, then, was the state of Christian Europe on the
outbreak of the Schism ? This, the fundamental ques-
tion, must be dealt with at the outset.

Catholicism had made nearly all the conquests it was
to keep until the great Protestant revolt. In the West,
the faith had spread along all the Atlantic coasts, from
the frontiers of the Moorish kingdom of Granada to the
farthest ends of Scotland, Ireland, and Iceland. It had
even penetrated as near the North Pole as Greenland, as
far as the icy regions discovered by the monks of Ireland.
There flourished the mysterious Church of North
America, soon to succumb to the blows of unknown

1 De Maistre, Du Pape, lib. iv., end.

2 Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter, Ed. 3, vol. vi.
p. 620.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

barbarians, a Church without a historian, Hke one of
those martyrs interred in the catacombs, whose Hfe and
even name find no record in the annals of Christian
antiquity, and who is known only by the palm and the
phial of blood. ^

In the North of Europe the three Scandinavian
kingdoms, though Cathohc for centuries, are powerless
to maintain either peace at home or influence abroad.
Towards the East, Livonia, Courland, and Finland have
long abohshed idols and adored the Cross. Prussia,
with its Teutonic knights, is beginning to attain to a
certain degree of rehgious prosperity, against the day
when war without and fightings within shall accomplish
its speedy downfall. Poland, under Ladislas and
Casimir, is growing into a strong national organisation,
and unites its straggling provinces under a single sceptre.
Hungary, destined along with Poland to become the
shield of Christendom, is preparing for the glorious days
of Hunyadi ; while on its borders Bohemia, turbulent
and brutal, is preparing for a future of religious discord,
and sees the birth of John Huss.

Farther down, the Eastern Empire is in the last
agonies of senile decrepitude, more and more powerless
to check the advance of Islam, the pressure of which
grows tighter on all sides.

To the South of the Catholic world, Asiatic and

^ The bishopric of Gardar, in Greenland, was founded circa twelfth
century : it was then dependent on the archbishopric of Drontheim in
Norway. Every year it paid Peter's pence in kind, as has been shown
by recent research. In 1520, the last bishop of Gardar was consecrated,
twenty-eight years after the discovery, or rather re-discovery, of America
by Columbus. It is also at about this date that the diocese was wiped
out. Cf. Elis^k Rkclus, VAmcrique horcale, p. 10 (Paris, 1890). Gams,
Serie« epincop. (Ratisbon, 1873), p. 334. Eubel, Hierarchia catholica
medii aeiii, 1898, t. i. p. 270. Beauvais, La ChrctienU du Greenland an
jnoyen-dge, Revue dea questionx historiques, 1902, p. 538.

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

African Christianity ekes out a precarious existence
along the strip of land which borders the Mediterranean.
Thence, looking as far afield as India, and the utmost
limits of the known world, taking a survey of the great
nations already seduced by Islam, or waiting to be
gathered under the iron hand of Tamerlane, nothing is
discerned but the shadow of death. Marco Polo's
travels, and the apostolic journeys of Mont-Corvin in
China, gave no soKd or abiding results of conversion.
They were rather extraordinary missionary excursions,
than efforts to lay the foundations of abiding institutions.
As for Africa, such, at any rate, as it appears in the maps
of that era, it remains almost entirely closed to Chris-
tianity and civilisation ; it is fast asleep in all the errors
and vices of Paganism and Islamism. For a long time
to come it will be the great unknown and the land of
mystery. But it would be unfair not to bear testimony
to the efforts of Clement V., John XXII., and Clement
VI., to keep alive the remains of Christianity in Abys-
sinia, and in all the barbarian states, and even in the
extreme East. When the records of these great Popes
have been fully published, the learned world will be able
to estimate the loftiness of their political ideals, the
resolution underlying their apostolical designs, the con-
tinuity of their undertakings in the propagation of the
faith and of Christian influence. Here it need only be
said that the final results did not correspond with the
greatness of their conceptions, nor with the generosity
of the sacrifices made.

Returning to the Christian world, we can discern
the causes which paralyse it, and hinder it from con-
juring the Mussulman danger, and from taking in hand
the great work of internal reform. The first is at
Byzantium, the second at Rome.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Christendom is ailing at its two centres, its two
capitals, each the heir to an empire, but both apparently
overwhelmed with the thought of bygone memories
too great for their faintness of heart, both of them re-
duced to the shadow of a name. Constantinople is
the victim of all the dissensions and rebellion of schism :
Rome is abandoned to all the disorder and weakness
of anarchy.

How is it possible to convey a true idea of the com-
plex character of these Byzantines, who are wasting
their powers in casuistical subtleties and ritual puerili-
ties, while the Turks are encamped just across the
Bosporus, and there are only temporary truces between
Constantinople and Iconium ? Doubtless the Latin
crusaders shed upon Greece a last ray of military glory,
while they defer the final catastrophe for a century,
but they have grown tired of coming to the rescue of
a country which repays them with contempt and
treachery. The Western warriors who succeeded the
Godfreys and the Baldwins, were such as Peter of
Lusignan, Amedee of Savoy, Louis de Bourbon, Jean
de Nevers, Jean de Boucicaut : they were full of fidelity
and frankness, '' they always wish to add to the good
of Christendom and the honour of chivalry." ^ More-
over, they have a lofty disdain for the theologaster-
emperors, the corrupt and corrupting ministers, the
patriarchs who are both ambitious and servile, the monks
who are sometimes vagabonds, sometimes sedentary
recluses, but always fanatics, and for all this degraded
people which makes and unmakes its rulers and has
nothing left but the tombs of its departed, the shadows
of its sages, and the relics of its saints.

On their side, the Byzantines, divided as to a thousand

* J. Delaville de Roulx, La France en Orient an XIV*- siecle, p. 505.

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

different things, are only united in bringing against the
Latins their scholastic arguments and insignificant
liturgical variations, and in protesting above all against
the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, which admits of no
division. " Better the turban than the tiara ! " This
sacrilegious watchword will only make itself heard
later on, but it was for centuries the root-idea of the
Byzantine policy.

On several occasions imperial hypocrisy takes ad-
vantage of papal good faith, and deceives the CathoUc
West. Sometimes the Commeni and the Paleologi,
assisted by a degenerate patriarchate, sketch out for
the two Churches an ephemeral union founded on
equivocation and almost immediately destroyed by
treachery. The tyranny of the Greek sovereign imposes
it for the needs or interests of the day, and for a like
reason his servile subjects acquiesce in it, without
conviction, and then reject it without regret. The
Byzantine empire is already " the sick man." Death
awaits it at an early date.

While schismatical Constantinople suffers from being
against the Pope, Rome, forsaken by her lawful ruler,
suffers from being without him. For more than sixty
years the Pontiffs had been obHged to leave their
ancient capital, given over, as it was, to the revolu-
tionary spirit, which seems to be endemic in this city,
" widowed of a royal people," of whom she regards
herself as the heir. Their prolonged stay at Avignon
left Rome a prey to the factions which ravage, weaken,
and disgrace her. The Romans of the fourteenth
century appear to follow the fatal decline of the Greeks
of the Lower Empire. Alternately they pay their
insincere homage to emperors and tribunes, to despots
and anarchists, until their final disenchantment, when

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

they demand the return of the Popes with exclamations
of repentance. At times they fling themselves at the
feet of such Caesars as Louis of Bavaria and Charles
of Bohemia ; at times they applaud such an enthusi-
astic tribune as the famous Rienzi, gifted with every
talent that can dazzle the mob. One day there is the
coronation of an emperor at St Peter's by the hands of
an excommunicate ; the next, the nobles recklessly
destroy the palaces and walls and triumphal arches,^
the venerable remains of a past of which they are
ignorant, in order to build in the centre of each district
a series of formidable citadels ; or again, the crowd
in a fit of dehrium hurries to the capital with an excited
demagogue, who goes mad with pride and finally
succumbs to the revolutionary forces which had been
his Hving.

During this era of madness and disorder the sovereign
Pontifi^s, in retirement on the peaceful banks of the
Rhone, might learn to appreciate the truth of the
observation addressed by St Bernard to his disciple,
Eugenius III. : " What is more obvious than the
arrogance and pride of the Romans ? They are a
people ignorant of peace, and accustomed to re-
bellion, recalcitrant and intractable, and, until
now, only obedient when powerless to resist any
more." -

Two years before the beginning of the schism, the
author of the strange book entitled Songe du Vergier,''
uttered similar complaints. "It is the iniquities
of the Romans that led the Saviour to prefer France

' Petrarch, Var. 48. Cf. Bressoj^no, Petrarque et Rienzi, 1899.
^ St Bkhnari), he CouKideratione, lib. iv. 2.

3 Somnium viridarii, published by Goldast in his Monorchia Sancti Romani
Imperii, t. i. p. 225. This pamphlet was written in 1376, two years

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

to Rome. The Roman is a spoiler, and, whom he
cannot despoil, he hates. Romanus rodit: quos rodere
non valet, odit,

" Nine times the Popes have been driven from the
Eternal City ; nine times our kings have restored them.
France is the refuge of the Popes, Rome is their ruin.
These hopeless pagans are the impenitent descendants
of the murderers of St Peter and St Paul."

The mother and mistress cities of the Christian world
both suffer from the same ailment : they have no Pope.
But this malady, though incurable at Byzantium, is
not beyond remedy at Rome. Nevertheless the city
of the Popes will long be afflicted with it, and will
make all Christendom suffer with her, till the end of
that Great Schism, whereof we have now to recount
the distant and proximate causes.

§ 2. The Dogmatic Errors of the Fourteenth Century.

Great historic events, however unexpectedly they
may occur, have many and deep roots in the past.
Their primary cause is almost always intellectual :
and when the cause has to do with the Church, it is
theological.

The most striking thing, in the troubled epoch under
investigation, is the misunderstanding of pontifical
authority, of its bases, its strength, and its privileges.
It is the practical obhvion of the very constitution of
spiritual sovereignty.

Doubtless the doctors of Paris and other centres
could find the principles of what is to-day called " The
Treatise of the Church " in the writings of the Fathers,

before the Great Schism, probably by Philip de Maizieres. Cf, Revue des
Sciences Eccles., Serie vi. t. v. p. 45 (Amiens, 1887).

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

in the canons of the Councils, and in the papal decrees.
But they had generally no idea of how to make a syn-
thesis of this teaching, they had never reduced it to
substantial unity, and they had no clear notion of
logically co-ordinating the theses which compose it.
They allowed themselves to be brought to a standstill
by certain differences between the doctors, they were
bhnded by clouds which, in those troublous times,
sometimes overcast fundamental truths ; they too often
considered indisputable points of dogma as if they
were open questions.

St Thomas was providentially raised up to carry
through the work of consolidation into a single whole,
and to unite in one body of doctrine all the principles
universally admitted by the old doctors. " On account
of his great reverence for the Fathers," said his com-
mentator Cajetan, " he has in a manner been the heir
of their united learning." Unfortunately the monu-
mental system of theology which he built up was never
finished, and among the most celebrated successors of
his school, none has inherited his synthetical mind,
and none has set forth the teaching of the Church
completely or systematically. And yet it would be
fairly easy to restore the " Treatise of the Church "
as a whole with the scattered fragments to be found
in the work of the Angelic Doctor.^

The fourteenth century works that remain fairly
often give us a report of the disputes of his school, of
the eager scholastic discussions which took rise in the
Rue de Fouarre in the professor's class, and were prose-
cuted in the cloister of the Mathurins, in Place Maubert,
and in the whole of the Latin quarter of those days.

• This has been done by Dr Grabmann in his Das Lehre des heiligen
Thomas von Aquin von der Kirche als Gotteswerk , Mainz, 1903.

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

One is astonished and startled to find on the lips of the
intellectual combatants so many strange or suspicious
theological propositions on every subject, especially
about the authority of the Church. There is hardly
an error, which has since then been condemned, that
cannot be found among the singular questions raised
by this decadent theology, among the risky theses of
some newly budding doctor, or in the teaching of some
lectures on the Liber Sententiarum by some B.A.,
more eager for novelty than truth. Often it is true that
these propositions are put forth interrogatively, with
restrictions suggested by fear of condemnation ; but
the venom works through these subtle openings and
will soon infect Christian teaching as a whole.

First, John of Paris, a Dominican, attacks the temporal
power of the Church ; then Marsilius of Padua impugns
the spiritual authority of the Pope, the primacy of St
Peter and the power of the Keys. The part played by
Marsilius with his accomplice John of Jandun, a Paris
professor like himself, at the court of Louis of Bavaria,
is well-known. After an interval of fifty years they
played there the same part as was played by Peter
Flotte and Peter Dubois at the court of Philippe le
Bel. Their doctrines, which were both Caesarian and
revolutionary, have left more than one mark on the
University schools.

But this theological evil grew specially virulent when
William of Occam and some disputatious Franciscans
took sides with William of Bavaria, at the time of his
fatal struggle with John XXII. " Defend yourself with
the sword," they said to the Emperor, " and we will
come to your aid with the pen." Thus did traitors throw
open to the foe the gates of the sanctuary which duty
bade them defend.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

The audacious theories of Occam found an echo in
England, his native country. John WicHffe, an Oxford
theologian, raises a genuine revolt against throne and
altar. On his death in 1384, the Great Schism had
already broken out, and John Huss, the inheritor of his
teaching, begins his studies at the University of Prague.
There he will soon carry to extreme lengths his inferences
against the Church and her head.

These doctrinal excesses give rise to a reaction, which
is certainly less revolutionary, but not less erroneous.
Already Augustinus Triumphus, the General of the
Augustinians, had ascribed to the Pope an unlimited
authority, and a direct dominion even over all things
temporal. " The Sovereign Pontiff," said he, " himself
does not know how far his supreme authority can
extend." ^ Alvarez Pelagius, another old Paris student,
follows the same errors, and teaches similar extrava-
gances.-

It is easy to see how such contradictory doctrines
must have perplexed University circles. According to
the former, the Pope is Antichrist, and the curse of
mankind ; according to the others, he is a demigod, the
master and supreme regulator of all things in heaven
and on earth.

In this chaos of doctrinal monstrosities, where was
one to find a true idea of the Church, her head, her
magisterium, and her rights ? On all these points the
school is Babel itself. It has no doctrine, because it has
too many doctrines.

This is why the events at Rome and Fondi, which we

' Summa de potentate ecclesiae ad Joannem, xxii. q. 1, a. 1.

2 De planctu ecclesiae, lib. 1. Cf. Rocquain, Jm Cour de Home, et l' esprit
de reforme amnt Luther, t. ii. p. 4.34 (Paris, 1897). The wise and
learned Bellarmine refutes these two doctors. See De Romano I'ontifice,
lib. V. c. 1 and .O.

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

are about to narrate, the crisis of 1S78, and the double
pontifical election which resulted from it, were not the
original cause of the Schism, but only the occasion for
the free development, extension, and continuation of
latent errors. The cardinal electors and the principal
upholders of each of the two obediences were imbued
with ideas taken from the great schools. On the other
hand, the jurists by whom the princes were surrounded,
the milites legum who inspired their counsels, had
listened to the pernicious maxims of Peter Dubois
and MarsiHus of Padua. They were sure of a favourable
hearing when with theories of autocracy they flattered
the interests of kings, " greedy of sacerdotal power,"
to quote St Ambrose.

We shall see ecclesiastical authority, deeply under-
mined by Philippe le Bel and his legists, growing weaker
and weaker throughout this period. A celebrated
contemporary historian has called the attempt of Anagni
a " generative fact." ^ And how rightly ! The influence
of the French king's imjust action, committed in 1303,
will last throughout the fourteenth and following
centuries : and from it dates the upsetting of institu-
tions and ideas. From this era the principle of the
divine right of Popes is in danger, and that of their
social supremacy is done with.

The theological doctrine of the power of Pontiffs over
kings and kingdoms seems to have been shaken by the
perfidy of Philippe le Bel and by the sacrilegious
violence of Colonna. " It is a vanishing principle, and
was one of the greatest that had reigned over the mind

^ DoM TosTi, Storia del Concilio di Gostanza, t. i. p. 4. Victor Le Clerc,
belonging- to quite a different school, approves of the expression and
the judgment of the Benedictine author : Histoire litteraire de la France,
t. xxiv. p. 108. This is also the view of Comte and Littre^ Etudes sur le.s
Barhares et le moyeii-dge (Paris, 1874), p. 872.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

until then. Society too was hit by the same blow as
had struck the Papacy. Henceforward, if we would
rediscover the Middle Age, we must descend with Dante
to visit the regions of the dead." ^

§ 3. The Question of Reform,

Passing from dogma to discipline and morals, we
discover a second cause of the Schism in the delays and
obstacles which long-needed reforms had to cope with.
Voices from cloister and altar, from the world and even
from courts, demanded them with urgency : and the
strongest of reasons underlay the complaints.

St Bernard very openly points out to Eugenius III.
the abuses which call for correction in the very court of
the Pope ; - while St Elisabeth of Schoenau complains of
the excessive wealth of the clergy, and predicts the
disendowment of the Church as a judgment.^ St
Catherine of Siena expected to find the Roman court
a paradise of virtue : she laments that she found there
an odour of hell.*

From a less estimable quarter the pseudo-mystics
draw their inspiration from the prophecies of the too
notorious Joachim of Flori, and from a certain Cyrillus,
General of the Carmelites. They fill the first years
of the fourteenth century with their much-heeded
denunciations of moral disorders.*

Poets join in this concert of recrimination and re-

^ F. RocQUAiN, Journal des Savants, 187o, p. 199.

* St Bernard, De consideration e, lib. i. iii. and iv.

3 Cf. W. Roth, Die Visio7ien der hi. Elisabeth (1884). Bolland,
Acta Sanctorum Junii, t. iv. p. 499. Migne, Patr. lat. , t. cxcvii.

* BoixANi), Acta Sanctorum Aprilis, t. iii. p. 891. Cf. Pastor,
Hiitoire den Fapes, ii. p. 135.

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

proach. Dante himself, theologus Dantes, scourges in
vehement verse all the corruptions of the times. As a
good Ghibelline, he cries out against the donation of
Constantine, which he mistakenly supposes to be
genuine, and which, according to him, is the origin of all
the evils that afflict the Church ; and sometimes he
heaps insults on the heads of those whose feet he should
embrace.^

Too much of a fine writer to avoid exaggeration,
Petrarch calls Avignon the "Babylon of the Apocalypse,"
and blackens it with sweeping rhetorical phrases. He
further exaggerates all the sorrowful blemishes which
the Pontiffs are the first to acknowledge, while lamenting
their helplessness in abolishing them.^ The anonymous
author of the Songe du Vergier is a well-informed
pamphleteer, who echoes all the hatred of the lawyers
against ecclesiastics, and all the attacks of free-thinkers
on clerical morality.^ Later on, St Antoninus will
complain not without bitterness of foreign legates,
and of the hostility they stir up around and against
themselves.^

Each of these critics imparts to his complaints his own
cast of enthusiasm, mind, or style. Eloquent invective,
bitter reproach, doleful and supplicating sighs, prophetic
warnings, ill-disguised or insatiable hatred, everything
that can agitate the religious world is there : everything
combines to urge the need of healthy amendment, moral
awakening, and a total reform of both head and members
so long demanded by the whole of Christendom.

^ Inferno, xix. and xxvii. ; Pargat., vi. ; Paradiso, xxii. and xxvii. Cf.
OzANAM, Dante et la philosophie catholique, p. 369.

2 Geiger, Petrarca (Leipzig^ 1874), p. 198. Lettres a. Rienzi, translated
by Deuclay, 1886.

3 Somnium viridarii (ed. Goldast, 1614), t. ii. p. 61 if.
* Chron. , p. iii. c. i.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

What is the principal cause of these undeniable abuses?
It is to be traced, I think, to the continual wars that then
laid waste the greater part of Europe, and which were
more fatal to the Church than the wars of religion.
Leaders, who were adventurers, ever in search of sword-
play and plunder, were for more than a hundred years
the terror and disgrace of Christendom. Robert
KnoUes, John Hawkwood, Arnaud de Cervole, Eustache
d'Auberchicourt, Raymond de Turenne, Geoff roy de
Boucicault are the leaders of international gangs
destitute of faith or pity, without either flag or father-
land. Rival kings take them into their service ; some-
times they get high protection from princes and nobles ;
and their violence is alike the terror of friend and foe.

Fire and pillage devastate episcopal and monastic
buildings, and give rise to every sort of temporal
disturbance and to every kind of moral decay.

Bishops cease to visit their dioceses ; prelates forsake
their residences ruined by the new barbarism. They
fly to Paris or to the court of Avignon, and Gregory XI.
is forced to fulminate against them to induce them to
return to their duties.

Abbots send the Popes woeful complaints, and the
pontifical replies betray the most perilous predicaments.
The abbeys indeed have lost all their revenues, and some
of them have been burnt down two or three times.
Their lands, abandoned by the peasants, are unculti-
vated, the monastic possessions are alienated, churches
no longer receive any assistance from the faithful, and
chapters are reduced to pauperism. Through all these
things combined, religious and ecclesiastical discipline
is relaxed, and the moral ruin exceeds the material, and
is still more deplorable. Everywhere the holiness of the
religious life is under eclipse. It may be affirmed that

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

for monastic conduct pauperism was as deleterious as
riches became later on.

Most estimable bishops protest both by word and
example, but in vain. Vain also are the orders, en-
treaties, and threats ^ issued by the general chapters of
the religious orders. Disorganisation is perpetuated
and intensified, and if reforms are effected, they are
only local and limited.

There is no need to refer in detail to the abuses which
then found their way into monasteries and churches
through annates, reservations, and expectations.^

Suffice it to say here that these practices, which
became so harmful later on, were at the outset simply
the exercise of legitimate rights. The same is true
of the commendam. In principle, a layman was tem-
porarily entrusted with the management of the material
interests of a monastery during an interregnum. But
at the period we are speaking of, regular benefices were
given in permanence to persons who were not only
outside the order, but even out of the Church herself.

The Popes, specially those of Avignon, unhappily
made use of and extended these irregular practices. '
Bishoprics, abbeys, parishes, priories, capitular appoint-
ments, all were seized and handed over to laymen, or
to nephews who might be infamous, or to clergy who
were too young, and held a plurality of benefices, quite
illegally.^ On their part rulers, with a munificence

1 Martene and Duband^ Thesaurus, t. iv. p. 1206 ff.

2 D. V. BerlierEj Inventaire annlytique des " Libri ohligationum et
resolutionum" des Archives Vaticanes, 1904 (Paris, Champion), Preface,
v.-xxv. ; and also Inventaire analytique des " Diversa Cameralia" 1906,
ihid. Samaran and Mollet, La Fiscalite pontificale en France au XIV^
siecle, 1904 (Paris, Pontemoing).

3 St Bernard, Tractatus ad Henr. archiep. Senonensem, 7. De moribus
et officio episcoporum^ Migne, t. clxxxii. col. 826.

B 17

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

that cost them nothing, lavished the goods of the Church
upon their creatures, plainly for the purpose of satiating
them or acquiring an ascendancy over them.

The most venerated doctors, and general and parti-
cular councils, had often risen against these abuses,
and proposed effectual remedies. But to drive these
buyers and sellers from the temple demanded the strong
arm and the avenging lash of a Gregory VII. or an
Innocent III. When Popes Clement V. or Benedict
XII. wished to do away with these fatal customs, they
soon found to their cost, says Thomassin, that it is
easier to make wounds than to heal them. However
successful the cure may be, it always leaves a
scar.i

At the time of the Great Schism all these open sores
are rankling, and are not one of the least deplorable ills
of the period. Each Pope, whether of Rome or of
Avignon, specially of the latter, urgently demands
taxes and more or less free subsidies, procurations, and
plunder, not to speak of annates and charges. The
meshes of the whole network of the ancient fiscal
system are drawn tighter. To increase the number
and kindle the zeal of his supporters, each pontiff
bestows abbeys upon men more fitted to wear the helmet
than the mitre, and on the thrones of the most venerated
sees they place men who would be more at home in the
seat of the money-changer than in that of the apostles.
At Avignon, intrigue, favouritism, and nepotism have
a free hand. Those who have compared this pontifical
court to a Bourse or a commercial agency have doubt-
less exaggerated, but their assertions are not unfounded.
Thenceforward, one can understand how interested

^Ancienne et nouvelle ducipline de I'^glise, 2* partie, lib. iii. ch. xx. Cf.
Denifle, Desolation des £gliset de France, v. ii. p. 603.

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

the proteges of the Pope were in the prolongation of
a Schism which guaranteed the continuance of their
simoniacal wealth.

History cannot dispute the existence of these de-
plorable practices and moral misfortunes. Let it
be said once for all : the Church needs the truth
only, and can countenance the use of no other
weapons.

All these uncanonical disorders, all these practices
of a too worldly spirit, impaired the respect of the faith-
ful for their ecclesiastical superiors. This tendency
to insubordination was shown even with reference to
the rival Sovereign Pontiffs, when an astonished world
saw them exchange anathemas, hurl lightly-regarded
censures against those who were not on their side, and
strive to increase their resources by methods which
were unlawful. Listen to a historian whose authority
is recognised everywhere by the learned : " The
financial system adopted at Avignon," says Pastor,
" contributed more than is generally supposed to destroy
the prestige of the Papacy, and singularly facilitated
the work of our foes." ^

Is it then to be wondered at, if Wicliff e and John Huss
contrived to assume the title of reformers ; and if, in
such favourable circumstances, they obtained such
rapid and fatal success ? For instead of aiming at
reform within the Church and by the Church, as so
many saints had done before them, they dreamt of
effecting it in spite of and in opposition to the Church. "^
They attacked the Pope and the cardinals, the bishops
and the monks ; and they wished to get rid of the very
notion of authority and of the hierarchy. On the
pretence of correcting abuses which were only too

1 PastoRj Histoire des Papes depuis la Jin du moyen-dge, t. i. p. 87.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

real, they presumed to set up their personal fancies
upon the ruins of the structure founded by Jesus
Christ.

To this conception of reform through revolution, the
Church opposed the idea of a reform inspired and
directed by herself on the principles of the Gospel of
which she is the interpreter, and according to the
traditions of which she is the appointed channel. She
resisted all these false teachers " who turned their
rages into reasonings," to quote a word of Bossuet's.^

According to this great bishop, the two systems of
reform were exactly represented by the two men whom
he opposes to each other : " Luther," he says, " makes
reformation depend on the destruction of the Papacy,
whereas d'Ailly would have it to be a consequence of
the perfect restoration of the authority established by
Jesus Christ to maintain unity amongst His members,
and to preserve the sense of obHgation in the whole
body." 2

§ 4. Fatal Influence of the Papal Residence at Avignon,

The long sojourn of the Pontiffs in the country of
Avignon, as has been shown already, was another
originating cause of the Schism, because it gravely
affected the behef that Rome was the indispensable
centre of Catholicism, and because it put a multitude
of hindrances in the way of attempts to begin a religious
reformation.

No doubt, in the time of Clement V. and John XXII.,
there were very specious reasons for quitting an Italy
torn with faction and its revolutionary metropoUs.

^ Histoire den Variatmin, i. 26. ^ Ibid., i. 4.

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

What could the Supreme Pontiff do when Louis of
Bavaria was proclaiming the deposition of the true
Pope, and putting in his place the hypocritical and
dissolute monk known as Pierre de Corbiere, who was
dragging in his train every fragment of schism and
Ghibellinism in the peninsula ? With what a saddened
gaze must the head of the Church have regarded the
abuse of power and the cupidity of the nobles, and how
could he have met the declamation of a tribune of the
people transformed into their king ?

And yet one may ask whether the residence of the
Pope in his capital might not have prevented all this :
whether an open and generous struggle with the Empire,
the nobility, and the people would not have been better
than peace purchased by desertion ? The energetic
predecessors of the Popes of Avignon had better com-
prehended their pontifical obligations and their role
as temporal sovereigns. When the Papacy sought
refuge on the banks of the Rhone by voluntary exile,
what did it gain in the way of outward respect either
from kings or Christendom ? And was it not forced
to incur the invasion of luxury and of the worldly spirit
within ? Did it not deserve some still graver re-
proaches than fell even from the lips of the saints ?
In quitting Rome, their cradle, in separating themselves
from the sacred sepulchre of the Prince of the Apostles,
in ceasing to reign over the land which had been hallowed
with the blood of the martyrs, the Popes seemed to
hold cheap the support they derived from memories
so august.

In their voluntary exile to the banks of the Rhone,
the Pontiffs came under the power of the French kings ;
and the papal palace was far too much overshadowed
by the menacing protection of the high towers of

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Villeneuve, a French possession. In other countries
they were regarded as the grand-almoners or mere
chaplains of the court at Paris : they naturally became
involved in the poHcy of the king, and had to take sides
in the interminable quarrels between France and her
neighbours, specially between her and England.

On the other hand, the Emperor did not forgive the
Popes their residence at Avignon, which made it im-
possible for him to exercise his ancient r61e of outside
bishop. Other sovereigns followed his example, and
became jealous of even the spiritual authority of a
Pontiff who appeared to be under the thumb of a rival
monarch. The obedience of all of them had in it too
many defiant reservations, and their respect was too
often grievously withheld. " The universal father,"
they seemed to say, " should not appear to be the
subject of one of his children," and when the Schism
breaks out, England and the Empire will not follow the
party of Avignon.

It was useless for the successors of St Peter to say :
" We are still the Pontiffs of the Eternal City, only just
now we prefer the banks of the Rhone to those of the
Tiber." All the faithful of Italy and of other places
repUed : " But the Roman Pontiff ought not to live
away from Rome, and cannot allow the inhabitants of
his capital to be plunged everlastingly into pohtical,
moral, and physical catastrophes, brought about by the
protracted absence of their legitimate ruler." In the
eyes of many these seventy years of exile, which were
termed the '' Babylonian captivity," were bound to have
a disastrous effect on the unity of the Church. Two
capitals would prepare the way for two pontifical chairs,
two colleges of cardinals, and two obediences, that is to
say, for the Schism.

CHURCH AND CHRISTENDOM

If the Catholic world had a presentiment of what was
coming, the Popes themselves were not without their
anticipations and fears. Sometimes they wished to
break away from the charms and peace of Avignon to
save Rome from disorders and numberless calamities.
One day the blessed Urban V. plans this act of re-
paration. Escorted in triumph by all the galleys of
Italy, he lands at Genoa, and sets out for Rome through
pacified cities and respectful populations. The Eternal
City has not seen her Pontiff since the days of Boniface
VIII., that is to say, for sixty -three years. She receives
Urban with enthusiasm and affection, ^ but he knows
neither how to reign or die in his true capital. He
refused to Hsten to the poetical plaint of Petrarch, then
the most ringing voice in Italy ; nor will he give any
heed to the Franciscan Peter of Aragon, who predicts
a fatal schism if he returns to France. St Bridget of
Sweden has no better success when she forebodes for him
a speedy death. And yet her prophecy is fulfilled to
the letter. Urban only sees the sky of Provence to bid
it a last farewell : he dies on arriving at the palace of
the Doms, and Gregory XI. ascends the pontifical
throne (1370).

Then occurs an event unique in Church history. In
her bosom, as formerly among the tribes of Israel, arises
a new kind of prophecy. Amid the troubles of these
turbulent times comes forth a young girl, an angel of
peace, and a missionary of reconciliation. Sprung from
an obscure family, Catherine of Siena feels herself called
by God to save the Church, and to restore the Vicar of
Jesus Christ to his capital. She goes to find the new
Pope on his throne, and does not allow herself to be

1 Baluzk, Vitae Paparum AveMion, t. ii. p. 768. Mirot, La politique
pontificale et le retour du Saint-Siege a Rome en 1376 (1898).

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

alarmed by the brilliancy of his pompous court. With
outspokenness and good judgment she demands reform
and his return to Rome. She speaks eloquently on
behalf of the city chosen by Christ, regenerated by St
Peter, and watered with the blood of the martyrs. She
succeeds, though not without miraculous help, in getting
a hearing, and, as in Old Testament times, the prophet
leads the priest. " Perhaps there was never in a human
heart such faithfulness to the Church and to the Papacy."^

Does not a historic parallel here occur to everyone ?
Some fifty years later, another young girl, born in the
marches of Lorraine, was listening to supernatural
voices, which bade her take the Dauphin Charles to
Reims. Joan of Arc sets out, appears before the
prince, and speaks boldly and frankly in the presence
of an effeminate and dispirited court. She gets listened
to, and brings the future king of France to the city
where kings are anointed and crowned.

When Catherine got Gregory to return to Rome, as
when Joan led Charles to Reims, in each case every-
thing seemed gained for a long time to come. God had
shown His all-powerful hand. Italy in 1378 applauded
as France was to applaud in 1427. All hearts seemed
to have regained the right to hope afresh. And yet
they were on the eve of an unexampled crisis, a fatal
division, a long period of religious troubles and public
calamities.

1 HasE; Katerina von Siena (Leipzig, 1861), p. 197. Cf. Mignatz,
Caterina da Siena e la parte cK ehbi nelle avenimenti d' Italia nel sec. XIV.
(Florence, 1894). L'EvisoiSy Legouvernement des Papes, -p. 340. Cerasoli,
Archivio Storico, 1899.

CHAPTER II

! THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

It is not only in the fourteenth century that the historic
problem of the origin of the Great Schism has divided
and stirred men's minds. To-day this question is not
cleared up for everyone. Though five centuries have
gone by, Urban VI. and Clement VII. still have uncom-
promising upholders.

In 1378, who was the lawful successor of St Peter ?
Was it Bartholomew Prignano, Archbishop of Bari, or
Robert of Geneva, formerly Bishop of Cambrai ? The
elect of April 8, or of September 20? The Pope of
Rome, or he of Fondi, and afterwards of Avignon ?
Such \V^s and such is still the starting-point of the dis-
cussion. The fact of the election is the central occur-
rence on which everything else depends. But each side
tells the story in its own way, according to its convictions
or emotions.

Whether one reads the explanation sent to the
Christian princes by the Roman Pope,^ or the Declaratio
written by the dissentient cardinals ; ^ whether one studies
all the Casus of the period, in print or manuscript,^ or

1 Raynaij), a; 1378, pp. 73-96.

2 Du BouLAY, Historia Univ. Parisiensis, t. iv. p. 468. Baluze, Vitae
Paparum Avenicn., t. i. col. 1235. Cf. Christophe, Histoire de la Papautc
au XI Ve siecle, f\ iii. p. 354.

^Gayet, Le Giq,nd Schisme d' Occident d' apres les documents contemporains
-for the Declaratio, see next chapter, p. 57. The Casus are writings

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

whether one examines the documents preserved at the
Vatican, and emanating from the rival Pontiffs, ^ one
cannot but conclude that the critical point is always the
account of the accession of Urban VI.

Was the moral freedom of the electors at the Council
sufficiently assured ? Must their choice of Bartholomew
be considered legitimate and valid ? Or, on the
contrary, should the cardinals be considered to have so
far yielded under pressure as to invalidate their acts,
and, consequently, to nullify the election ? This is the
problem historians have had to handle, particularly
since the fourteenth century.

Raynald, and the majority of writers outside France,
defend Urban VI. They beheve that his election was,
if not unexceptionable, at any rate adequate, and
moreover, that all invahdity was put out of the question
later on.

Baluze and a certain number of French historians
rather take sides with Clement, and are incLned to
consider that the first election was invahd. This is the
conclusion that follows from the testimony they bring
forward, and which comes for the most part from French
cardinals. Certain champions of Robert of Geneva and
Bang Charles, especially in the seventeenth century, are
rightly suspected of allowing themselves to be led away
by pohtical prejudices which have nothing to do with
the discussion, through a sort of back-handed and
mistaken patriotism.^

compiled by Urban, the cardinals, lawyers, and other wrilers, speaking in
the name of each of the pretenders.

1 The Vatican Archives, Ref. 291-301) for Avignon, 310-314 for Rome.

2 The historiographer Mezeray is indignant with his ftllow-countrymen
who take sides with the Roman Pontiff, " without thinking that they are
Frenclimen, and that tliey make out our kings to hi schismatics and
fomenters of schism." Hint, de France {Edi. 1685), t. ii. p. 479. Maim
BOUHo, Hiitt. da Grand Schiame, lib. i.

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

In our days writers have treated the question afresh,
but now relying upon documents which were unknown
to the historians of the seventeenth century.

Hefele, Hergenrother, Pastor, Heinrich, Chenon, de
Beaucourt, Denifle, have pronounced plainly in favour
of the Roman Pontiff ; Gayet, who has commented on
many documents, rather leans towards Avignon ; Noel
Valois leaves the case in suspense and considers the
rival Popes doubtful, and believes that the solution
of this great problem is beyond the judgment of
history.^ All dwell upon the events which preceded,
accompanied, or followed the election of April 8,
1378.

On this question of fact, history alone can speak;
theology has nothing to do with it, and canon law can
only pronounce later on, when the revalidation of the
election of Urban VI. is in question, or when certain
means have to be resorted to for bringing the Schism to
an end. Until now the Church has not decided the
matter by way of authority, and probably she never
will. Some popes have shown their leanings, but none
has imposed a fixed and formal decision on an important
and still debated question. Nevertheless during the
eighteenth century the learned Benedict XIV. had
already remarked : " To-day the darkness is being
dissipated and the legitimacy of Urban and his successors
is growing plain." '^ Councils have formulated no
judgment on the matter. Annalists and theologians of
earlier centuries, who only had a limited quantity of

1 Valois, La France et le Grand Schisme d' Occident (Paris, 1896), t. i. p. 8,
and t. iv. p. -503. We shall often make use of information contained in
this book, which cannot be too highly esteemed. M. Valois has utilised
a large number of documents with great critical acumen. See also
Lindner, Histor. Zeitschrift, t. xxviii. pp. 102-127-

^ De servorum Dei heatijicatione, lib. i. c. ix. No. 10.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

official documents to survey, have reached different
conclusions.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the
erudite labours of historians and the discovery of
numerous documents have shed enough light on the
actual facts to enable one to form a reasoned conviction,
which almost amounts to a certainty.

§ 1. The General State of Mind,

Gregory XI. had died on March 27, 1378. Follow-
ing the example of his namesake, Gregory X., the
deceased pope had taken every precaution to make
the election of a successor easy, prompt, and indis-
putable. It was the first time since the departure of
the Popes for Avignon, that is to say, the first time
for sixty-three years, that a conclave was to be held
in the Eternal City, and it was therefore more necessary
than ever to surround the future choice of the cardinals
with every guarantee of validity. Therefore Gregory
desired the commander of the castle of Saint Angelo,
Peter Gandelin,^ not to give up the keys to anyone
without an express order from six cardinals living at
Avignon.

Everyone remembers Bossuet's saying in recounting
the last moments of Alexander the Great : " He died
full of mournful fancies about the confusion which
would follow his demise." Such apparently were the
apprehensions which haunted the last hours of the
dying Pontiff.

' Baluze, t. ii. col. 81 3j names this governor Pierre Rostainz^ but a
document recently published by Gayet calls him Gandelin de St Crispin
(t. i. Pirccs justif. , pp. 161 and 16H). Pierre Rostainz was his uncle, of
French stock, but an Italian by adoption {Ibid., p. 156).

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

The decease of the Pope aroused various sentiments
in Rome, but the dominant one was uneasiness as to
the immediate future. Would the still unknown in-
dividual, on whose election the conclave was to decide,
leave the Eternal City as Urban V. had done, or would
he make up his mind to stay there like Gregory XI. ?
Was France to maintain her preponderance in directing
the affairs of the Church, or would her influence pass
to Italy ? Was Rome again, and perhaps for ever,
to be deprived of her Pontiffs, and would they return
to Avignon ? Was she to remain as a headless trunk,
by the abandoned banks of the Tiber, a prey to anarchy
and division, unprotected against the ambition of an
Emperor like Louis of Bavaria or the agitation of a
tribune Hke Cola di Rienzi ? Such were the anxieties
that filled every mind at Rome among the well-informed,
whether priests, nobles, or capitaneL

The people, on their side, were animated with less
lofty but more practical ideas. The Transtiberines
were astir : they waylaid the cardinal- electors in the
streets and called out to them : " For seventy years
France has been gorged with Roman gold, it is our turn
now to feast on French money." ^

Was the Duke of Aragon going to be a true prophet
when he foretold Gregory XL the future that lay before
the Papacy in the Eternal City ? "If you go to live
over there, said he, " the Romans are strange fellows
and traitors and will take the upper hand of all the
cardinals, and force them to make a Pope who suits
their convenience." ^

There might be some reason to fear it, for all the
Roman citizens, rich or poor, were agreed in upholding

1 Baluze, t. i. col. 1073. Opera Gersonii (Ed. Ellies-Dupin), t. i. p. 11.
^ Froissart (Ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove), t. ix. p. 47.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

a pretension, which is to-day regarded as extravagant,
though for them it was a sort of undisputed dogma,
that is to say, the right of the people of Rome to take
part in the election of the Pope.

The turbulent and haughty nobility of Rome long
beUeved that it had the right to make its influence
felt, and to impose its preferences on the conclave.
Ecclesiastical and civil history is full of frays between
the Orsini of the castle of St Angelo and their eternal
enemies the Colonnas of the Capitol. Rome had seen
the Pierleoni of the Island in the Tiber dispute the
tiara with the fierce Gaetani, who had fixed their eagle's
nest in the fortified and monumental tomb of Cecilia
Metella. Not merely a quarrel between two families,
but the claims of a whole nation were now in question.
The imperial capitulars and the privileges of Otho had
confirmed the Romans in their century-long error.
From another side, the national and democratic spirit
of Arnold of Brescia and Cola di Rienzi had set in motion
all sorts of claims opposed to pontifical authority. It
is right to add that some blame attaches to the theo-
logians of the times, who in this regard made too many
advances to the degenerate Romans, and yielded in too
many things to the pride of the quondam imperial people.^

Full of their own importance, the Roman people were
ready to make their pretensions predominate within
the conclave itself. The sad condition in which the
exodus of the Popes to Avignon had left the town
and patrimony of St Peter for seventy years, and the
fear of a fresh and early departure, seemed to justify

^Pierre d'Ailly, ^'De Ecdesiae, Concilii generalis , Romani Pontificis
et Cardinalium auctoritate," in the 0pp. Gersonii (Ed. P^llies-Dupin)^ t. ii.
col. 280 and 236. He terms the so-called right, Jus naturale et divinum
large itumptum.

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

their complaints to a certain extent, and only encouraged
them too freely to fill all ears with their overweening
claims. On this point the bannerets and nobles were
in perfect accord with the opinions and desires of the
Roman plebs. " We want a Roman or at least an
Italian Pope," was the cry heard everywhere in all the
public places of the city. From another side six
thousand Sabine mountaineers had descended upon
Rome.^ They camped in the streets and squares,
and deafened the town with their fifes and drums.
They ate and drank to excess, and meant ere long,
according to custom, to plunder the residence of the
future Pope-elect, and even of the cardinal- electors.
The nobles and armed gentry could and should have
prevented and suppressed popular risings, but they had
been requested to leave the town forthwith. Thus
there was a clear field for all fomenters of disturbance,
who always find unwitting accomplices to act as their
tools.

In the heart of Rome, with all its turmoil, what was
to become of the Sacred College, called upon in such
circumstances to discharge the gravest duties ? It
was not supposed to have been over troubled by such
a state of things, which local passion, southern heat,
and the rough manners of the contadini sufiiciently
explain. Most of the members took no precautionary
measures to secure their personal safety. Later on

^ St Vincent Ferrier, De moderno Ecdesiae Scismati, MS. Latin.
Bibl. Nation., No. 1470, 2^ pars, 3* obj. f. cclxiii. ''Homines rustici et
ribaldi cellarium fregerunt palacii pro vino potando." This treatise was
composed by the Saint in 1380 and sent to the King of Aragon, Peter IV.,
named the Ceremonious. M. Noel Valois wonders that so important a
document has never yet found its way into print (t. i. p. 221). The Rev.
Father Fages, author of a history of St Vincent, intends to publish the
MS. , but he has already been anticipated at Rome by Sorbelli (Purtet,
1900).

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

they declared that they trusted the true Romans, and
never beheved that their liberty was in serious danger.^

Furthermore, had they had any real fear, there were
at hand two efficacious methods of securing protection.
A few leagues from Rome were the formidable Bretons
of John de Malestroit. These five hundred lances had
long been the dread of all Italy. The mere news that
they were coming would have been enough to inspire
the plebs of the Transtiberines and the peasant moun-
taineers with salutary terror.

In the next place, the castle of St Angelo, commanded
by the brave and trusty Pierre Gandelin, was ready
to throw its doors open to the Sacred College, and to take
them under the protection of its strong walls.

If these expedients crossed the timid minds of a few
cardinals, they nevertheless did not think fit to resort
to them. In short, there was no hindrance to prevent
them from fulfilling their duty. They had put their
confidence in the bannerets of the different quarters of
Rome, and begged them to elect a captain, and the
latter had chosen four constables. All swore according
to law and ancient custom to uphold freedom of election.
The three prelates appointed to guard the conclave
took the same oath. The heads of the militia took
energetic measures to keep order, and serious warnings
were given to those who might disturb either the public
peace or the personal security of the cardinals.^

Mounted men rode through the streets of the town
to make these orders known. The executioner took
his place in the Piazza of St Peter, and displayed his

^Gayet, t. ii., Pieces justij: , pp. 7» and 151. Baluze had before him
many similar pieces of evidence, but has omitted to mention them.

2 Gayet, t. i. p. 100, and several MSS. quoted by M. Noel Valois, t. i.
p. 11. Knopfler, Die Wahl Urbans in the Theolog. praktische Quartal-
schrift of Passau, 1891.

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

primitive implements before everyone's eyes : a living
and abiding threat calculated to inspire all the fomenters
of disorder with due respect.

§ 2. The Opening of the Conclave,

Such were the circumstances of the meeting of the
conclave on April 7, nine days after the death of Gregory
XI. As he came out of Vespers, each cardinal entered
into the Vatican, passing through the crowd massed in
the Piazza of St Peter and on the steps of the church.
As each porporato arrived, twenty thousand persons
shouted : Romano lo volemo, o, almeno, italiano.^

The noisier among them added, as the foreign cardinals
passed, " If you don't give us a Roman or at least an
Italian Pope you will be torn in pieces."

Were all the cardinals ready to yield to the demands
of this imperious mob ? Whom did they wish to
choose ? Into what parties were the sixteen members
present divided at this critical moment ?

The Italians were in a minority. They were Francis
Tibaldeschi, Cardinal of St Peter's, aged and infirm ;
Peter Corsini, Cardinal of Florence ; Simon of Borsano,
Cardinal of Milan, and James ^ Orsini.

The foreigners were more numerous and were divided
into two sections. The Frenchmen included Hugh de
Montalais, Cardinal of Brittany; Robert of Geneva,
formerly Bishop of Therouanne and Cambrai, afterwards
Clement VII. ; Peter Flandrin, Cardinal of St Eustache ;

1 Dum Domini Cardinales vellent intrare Conclave pro Summo Pontijice
eligendo , fere totus populus romanus armatus et congregatus in platea Sancti
Petri vociferando et comminando : Romano lo volemo, o, al manco italiano.
St Vincent Ferrier, op. cit., f. cclxi.

2 Not Joh7i as he is called by Th. de Niem, a contemporary^ and by his
biographer, G. Erler, Dietrich von Nieheim, p. 324.

c 33

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

and Bertrand Lagier, Cardinal of Glandeve. To them
belonged also Peter de Luna, a Cardinal of Aragon,
subsequently Benedict XIII.

The cardinals of the Limousin made a separate
section. The three Avignon Popes, Clement VI.,
Innocent VI., and Gregory XL, were natives of that
province. They had created numerous cardinals, chosen
among their relations or fellow-countrymen. They
were Guy de Malesset, Cardinal of Poitiers; John de
Cros, Cardinal of Limoges ; Gerald of Puy, Cardinal of
Marmoutiers, William d'Aigrefeuille, and Peter de
Vergne. At Rome, public opinion also credited them
with Peter de Sortenac, Cardinal of Viviers ; and William
Noellet, Cardinal of St Angelo.

In short, the conclave numbered four Italian, five
French, and seven cardinals from the Limousin. Each
party had its candidate, and hoped to carry him to
victory by making alliances, compromises, and promises.
In any case, the Italians and French seemed disposed
to exclude the Limousin party, who for years had looked
upon the Holy See as their own fief.

All the documents appear to agree that before the
conclave there were negotiations between the smaller
sections as to how to keep the Limousin party in check.
The Italians and French combined were to agree upon a
prelate taken from outside the Sacred College, and
certain depositions claim that the name of Bartholomew
Prignano, Archbishop of Bari, was then already
mentioned.^

At this time it is curious to remark the attitude of
Robert of Geneva, who, as Clement VII., was to become
Bartholomew's rival. The Archbishop of Bari's candi-
dature had no warmer partisan. " This time we will

^ Gayet, t. ii. p. 10. Fleury, Hist. Eccles., lib. xcvii. ch. 48.

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

have an Italian," he kept saying. " I will never vote
for these Limousin traitors." And he added : " By
these Holy Gospels, the Archbishop of Bari shall be our
Pope." ^ He had spoken to Bartholomew in this sense,
for this was the candidate of his choice. Peter de Luna
himself, afterwards Benedict XIII. , entered the conclave
with the same idea, and proclaimed aloud that he meant
to vote for Prignano.'- It is als) said that some of the
Limousins, much agitated by the coalition against
them, and feeling that they could not resist it, were
not far from voting for Bartholomew.-^ Peter de
Luna owns this, and his testimony is of primary
importance.

Hence it seems certain that, from the very beginning
of the conclave, from nine to ten of the sixteen cardinals
intended to vote for the Archbishop of Bari. Ante-
cedently he had much more than an absolute majority
and almost obtained two-thirds of the votes. The
differences between the electors paved the way for
his success. From several of them he had received
formal assurances of support, and everything leads
one to suppose that he already counted on wearing
the tiara.

There is then no need to assume that the election
of the Archbishop of Bari was due to external pressure.

1 Baluzk, t. i. col. 1001.

- Gayet, t. ii. pp. 148-150. " The Romans," adds M. iiayet, " did not
fabricate the election of Bartholomew Pri^nano : it was, I believe, in the
nature of things. All they did was to compromise and injure the case of
their candidate. The cardinals could not agree upon one of their own
number : they had to look for a candidate outside of the Sacred College,
and outside the Sacred College there was no one except the Archbishop
of Bari " (t. ii. p. 28G). As this avowal comes from a supporter of Robert
of Geneva, it is all the more noteworthy.

^ Valois, t. i. p. 28. Jahr, Die Wahl Urbans VI., p. 4f). Gayet, t. i.
p. 152. Baluze, t. i. col. 1001 and 1077.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Moreover, the shouts that re-echo in the Piazza of St
Peter do not call for Bartholomew by name, but for
a Roman or at least an Italian.^

§ 3. The Election of Prignano,

The electors, received at the gates of the Vatican
by the Senator, one by one ascend a staircase leading
to the first floor, where the cells which they are to
occupy have been got ready. Several staircases had
been walled up to hinder the crowd from finding its
way into the rooms of the conclave. Nevertheless
a few men took advantage of the transition of the
cardinals and members of the conclave to gain an
entrance to the palace, and to continue to give loud
expression to the wishes of the people of Rome.

The heads of districts (caporioni) then came forward
and tried to exact from the united prelates a formal
promise to elect an Itahan. Cardinal d'Aigrefeuille,
prior of the cardinal-priests, worthily rephed to these
illegal and disrespectful summonses : " I have not
the right," he said, "to pledge the votes of my
colleagues, nor can they command mine. There-
fore retire. Fresh entreaties will only vitiate the
election and succeed in making it null and void."
Cardinal Orsini made them understand the impro-
priety of their proceedings still more keenly. The
caporioni, after an hour's useless entreaties, withdrew
in dissatisfaction. The people, who were expecting more
definite pledges, showed themselves much disappointed.
All night they took their stand in the Piazza of St
Peter, breaking into and plundering the palace cellars,

1 Gayet, t. i. p. 239. Of. Vaiaus, t. i. p. 37.

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

drinking stolen wine, and incessantly shouted — " A
Roman or at least an Italian ! " ^

On April 8, in the early morning, while the car-
dinals were hearing Mass, the alarm bell rang out in
the town, and soon the bells of St Peter's mingled with
its clanging their reverberating and ominous pealing.
It seems as if a rising is on the point of breaking out in
Rome, and that with the multitude of demonstrators
the tumult is hourly increasing. The electors gathered
in the chapel are perturbed : the Bishop of Marseilles,
WiUiam de la Voulte, the guardian of the conclave, is
the most alarmed of them all. He comes and cries out :
" Make haste, my lords. The people want a Roman
or Italian Pope ; if you make any opposition, you run
the risk of being cut in pieces without mercy." ^

The young Cardinal Orsini leaves the chapel and tries
to check and calm the crowd, but with small success.
All the cardinals return to the chapel full of agitation
and perplexity. What are they to do ? Whom are
they to choose ? Half an hour is spent in deliberation
without result. At last two of the electors go and
promise the mob that their wishes will soon be gratified.
Here let it be noted once more that the Romans so far
have suggested no one's name.

' " Virioleiitia non violentia." " Such scenes are the result of noisy-
hilarity and impatience. They are the effect of the copious libations of
the crowd." Thus writes a Protestant, Leo, Histoire d'ltalie, t. ii. p. 315
<Ed. Dochez, Paris, 1844). (Jf. Gayet, t. i. p. 244. Pieces justif. , pp.
77 and 154. Baluze, t. i. pp. 450, 485, 1211 ff. Valois, t. i. p. 39.

^ St Vincent Ferbier, loc. cit. This writer adds : " Considerabant
Domini Cardinales antiquam et consuetam experientiam malitiae Roman-
orum. Jam ab antiquo expertus est universus mundus quomodo Romani
fuerunt semper assueti ad mala, faciles ad irascendum, subiti ad sedi-
tionem et audaces ad percutiendum et occidendum." F. 281. It must be
remembered that the Saint is pleading for Clement VII., and that he was
long on the side of the Popes of Avignon. Cf. Gayet, Pieces justif . , t. i.
pp. 11, 17, 19, 36, et*. Texte, pp. 269, 275, etc.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Peter de Luna, with more determination and less
timidity, gets the Cardinal of Limoges to vote for the
Archbishop of Bari. This cardinal rises in his turn :
" My Lords," he says, " since God has not given us to be
of one mind as to the choice of one of the members of the
Sacred College, I think we should elect someone from
outside. I do not see anyone as worthy as the Arch-
bishop of Bari. He is a saintly man, and known to us
all, a man of ripe age and fitting attainments. I propose
him freely and spontaneously." ^ Aigrefeuille, appar-
ently anxious to have done with the question, exclaims :
" I vote for Prignano as Roman Pontiff." Almost all
express themselves in a similar way. A few seem to
hesitate, but end in accepting Bartholomew. Orsini
alone professes to think himself under too much con-
straint and that the election will be null.

On the other hand, Peter de Luna and many others
protest that they choose the Archbishop of Bari with the
express intention of making a true Pope.^ It is nine
o'clock. The election is over, but the cardinals propose
to keep it secret until they receive an assurance of the
consent of the elect. The Bishop of Marseilles has the
Archbishop invited to come to the palace with several
prelates, so that the people may not be in doubt as to
the choice of the Sacred College.

Outside the mob continues to sway to and fro, and
deafening cries re-echo round the palace, " Romano lo
volemo ! "

• Gaykt, t. i. p. SIS. Cif\ Baluze, t. i. col. 1104 and ]4(>;3.

2 " Cum ei amino et intentione nt sit verus Papa." Thus spoke tiie
Cardinals of Limoges, St Peter, d' Aigrefeuille, Viviers, Milan, Luna,
and perhaps of Poitiers. The C'ardinals of \'ergne, Glandeve, and Mar-
moutiers, afterwards questioned as to what was then their intention,
affirmed that tiiey could not remember, so as not to have to make a reply.
Cf. Gaykt, t. i. p. 32;J. Valois, t. i. p. 45. These details, the impor-
tance of which is clear, are not denied by the opponents of Urban.

38 ■

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

The cardinals begin to fear that the name of Prignano,
who is not a Roman, will not be well received : never-
theless, as a comparative calm apparently falls upon the
Piazza, they quietly take a meal. Then they return to
the chapel, and one of the electors asks his colleagues :
" Now that the excitement is over, let us take advan-
tage of the opportunity to re-elect the Archbishop
of Bari. Are we still of the same opinion ? " " Yes,
yes ! " reply the majority of the cardinals : thirteen
out of sixteen. Three of them had not yet come
back to the chapel.

Assuming that the earlier election was invalid,
Bartholomew is now elected lawfully and almost
unanimously.^

While this was going on. Cardinal Orsini appears at
a window where the conclave was met. " You have a
Pope," he exclaims to the mob ; but he does not utter
the name of the elect. Different and contradictory
rumours are current in the various knots of people. " It
is Tebaldeschi, it is the old Cardinal of St Peter's,"
say some. " It's the camerlingo, John de Bar," cry out
others. The latter, a native of Limousin, was detested
by the Romans. The agitation grows and becomes
threatening. Fresh clamour arises ; doors are broken
down, stones are hurled through the windows, and
threats of death are uttered. The populace forces its
way into the palace, wounds some of the members of the
conclave, and begins to plunder. The prelates fail to
restrain the mob let loose ; misunderstanding continues
and grows.

Then begins a scene strange and unparalleled in the

^ Cf. Valois^ t. i. p. 50. The three who were absent were the Cardinals
of Brittany^ Marmoutiers, and Vergne. The presence of the Cardinal of
Glandeve is not certain. Cf. Gayet, t. i. p. 359.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

history of conclaves. A cleric imagines that the name
of Bartholomew is not acceptable to the people, and
the idea of presenting the old Cardinal of St Peter's as
the elect of the conclave occurs to him.

Tebaldeschi protests : his colleagues in alarm beseech
him to lend himself to the stratagem in order to save
their lives. They seize the old man, who is almost
impotent, and place him on the Papal throne, and crown
him with a white mitre and cast around his shoulders a
red cape, singing the Te Deum in the midst of the
tumult. In vain the Cardinal cries out : "I am not the
Pope at all. It is the Archbishop of Bari." He is
lifted by force on to the altar, until at last the name of
Prignano is heard and understood by the crowd.^

While this was going on, Bartholomew had arrived
at the Vatican and heard the news of his election. A
few Romans, disappointed of their ambitious hopes,
tried to induce him to refuse the tiara ; but he managed
to escape their entreaties, and succeeded in reaching
the secret room. The cardinals, irked by the mysti-
fication which had just been gone through, vanish one
after the other and get back to their houses. Six of
them take refuge in the castle of St Angelo, after having
run some risk. Four leave Rome for the shelter of
neighbouring fastnesses.

Hence, in spite of shouts and threats, an election had
taken place, and then a re-election. The great dis-
order and violence that broke out only came afterwards.
No one dreamt of telling the Archbishop of Bari that
his selection was the outcome of fear, and that this
alone tainted it with irregularity.

Moreover, can it be said that the fears felt by the
electors were strong enough to hinder them from per-

' Ihid. Cf. MuRATORi, Rt'rnni Hal. scriptorea, t. iii. 2^ pars., p. 604.

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

forming a human and moral action, that is to say, an
action possessing all the necessary attributes to ensure
its being responsible in conscience ? Urban's election
had taken place in the midst of fears, but it had not been
their outcome. Bartholomew then had a right to look
upon himself as legitimately chosen, and the conduct
of the cardinals during the following days could only
confirm him in this conviction.

In mere virtue of their office, the cardinals were the
principal factors in the Pope's election. Did they
wish, and could they make a valid choice in the cir-
cumstances that have been related ? If they were
so far terrorised as to think that the election they have
made was not valid, they will certainly hasten to declare
it null and void immediately after peace has been re-
stored ; they will interchange opinions and proceed
to a fresh election. If, on the other hand, they thought
their choice was vahd, they will act in harmony with
this conviction and pay their homage to the newly-
elect. Hence it is their action that will enhghten us
as to the opinions that they entertain, now that all
reasons for fear have disappeared. Let us note the
steps they take.

The Archbishop of Bari awaits the homage of the
cardinals, and he is not disappointed. The Cardinal
of Florence is the first to meet him, and he is followed
by the Cardinal of Milan. Both of these are Itahans.
Gerald of Puy, Cardinal of Marmoutiers, is from Limousin,
and yet he gets his colleagues, who have taken refuge
in the castle of St Angelo, to present themselves at the
Vatican. The Frenchman Lagier, Cardinal of Glandeve,
and Peter de Luna of Aragon arrive in turn to pay their
compliments to the new Pontiff. If the latter expresses
some doubt as to the vahdity of the election, the

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

cardinals present hasten to reassure him. The six
prelates shut up in the castle make more difficulties,
agitated as they are by the camerlingo, Peter de Cros.
The remembrance of the commotion they had ex-
perienced and the insults they had received the day
before seems to remain smarting within their breasts.
But had they any velleity to contest the election of
Prignano? They said so later on, but Cardinal
d'Aigrefeuille contradicted them.

The honours with which they surround the new
Pontiff testify to the impression they had at the time.
Nor is this all : we see them at once sending their
power of attorney, so that the enthronement of the
Pontiff may proceed with validity in their absence.
Yet that very evening they think better of it. Is it to
express doubts as to the voting ? On the contrary,
it is to confirm it. They have decided to go to the
Vatican in person, and to proceed, with their other
colleagues, to the ceremony of enthronement. Hence
they solemnly recognise Bartholomew as their elect.
The Cardinal of Florence says in the name of them all :
'' I\Iy Lord, we have elected you." The latter accepts
their election. He is dressed in the white cassock
and pontifical decorations, and the Te Deum is chanted.
The electors cast themselves at his feet and " do him
worship." Meanwhile Peter of Vergne, a Limousin
cardinal, opens a window, and, speaking so that all
may hear, utters the customary form of words : ''I
have a great joy to tell you : you have a Pope, and he
has taken the name of Urban VI."

The clergy and then the Romans enter the room in
turn and prostrate themselves at the feet of the new
Pontiff.

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

§ 4. The Coronation of Urban.

There is no hesitation and no manifestation of doubt.
No delay is requested to examine into the question of
vaHdity, to see whether a new election will be required.
The Pope, the cardinals, the clergy, and people, all are
apparently at one. Later on, when the members of the
Sacred College change their minds and proceed to a
fresh election, Christendom will say to them : " My
lords, if there has been any mistake, it is you who have
deceived us. When we unanimously recognised Urban,
we only followed your example. Why do you claim
now to give us another Pope in the place of him whom
you declared legitimately elected ? "

Yet a few months later these same cardinals will
want to make such a reversal : they will come to tell a
catholic world, justly wondering at their right-about-
face, "If we momentarily chose Bartholomew, it is
because he was more involved than anyone else in the
tumults of those days, and therefore could more easily
comprehend the need of an immediate resignation of
office." 1

The Limousin cardinals, and particularly John de
Cros, Cardinal of Limoges, there and then show them-
selves most anxious to obtain spiritual and temporal
favours from the new Pope. They seem to be troubled

1 ValoiSj t. i. p. (U. It is astonishing to see this strange reasoning
repeated by St Vincent Ferrier : '^ Domini Cardinales . . . nominarant
dictum Bartholomeum in papam, quem repatabant hominem intelligentem et
devotmn et in factis curiae satis expertum, quatenus Ipsemet per suam
scientiam et experieyitiam cognoscens nullitatem notorissimam illiusmodi
eiectionis earn propter timorem Dei retractus nullathenus acceptaret, vel
solum ad tempus earn, acceptasse simularet ad liherandos Dominos Cardinales."
De moderno Ecclesiae scismate, f. cclxiv. 6** objectio. M. Gayet thinks the
election of Bartholomew was the greatest mark of confidence that the
cardinals could give him (t. i. p. 334).

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

by no scruple as to whether Urban has the authority
to grant such privileges. They, and Cardinal Peter
de Luna in particular, though soon after they will
elect Clement, do not shrink from acknowledging
these incriminating circumstances. Soon all the other
members of the Sacred College, who had taken
refuge in the neighbourhood, return to Rome. Robert
of Geneva is among them, nor is he behindhand
in offering his homage to Urban VI. Ceremonies
follow one another throughout the month of April.
The Pope gives his solemn benediction, known as urbi
et orbi, distributes palms on Palm-Sunday, and utters
an excommunication against the enemies of the Church.

Finally, on Easter Day, April 18, he is enthroned
according to custom at St John Lateran ; and then,
at St Peter's, the cardinals solemnly proceed to the
ceremony of the coronation.

It is Cardinal Orsini, the only one who would not vote
for Prignano, who is charged with placing the tiara on
the head of the new Pontiff. He has rallied completely.

Thus the whole of the Sacred College acclaims Urban,
flatters his fancies, espouses his quarrels, and continues
throughout the months of May and June to beg numer-
ous favours at his hands.^ Later on, the Clementine
supporter, William de la Voulte, Bishop of Marseilles,
will be obhged to admit that, for many months, he could
not doubt but that the elect of April 8 had been
recognised by them as the legitimate Pope.^

And, as a matter of fact, the Sacred College, in a
collective letter, officially notified the accession of Urban
to the six cardinals who had remained in Avignon

' Gayeiv, t. ii. p. 180.

2 Valois, t. i. p. 63. Cy: Hefeijs, History of the Councils, t. x.
p. 85.

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

(April 19),^ and then to the Emperor (May 8), as well
as to the rest of the catholic sovereigns. On April 14,
Robert of Geneva, the future Clement VII., had written
himself to Charles V.,^ and then several times to the
Elector Palatine, and finally to his relation Louis de
Maele, Count of Flanders.^

On his side, Peter de Luna, subsequently Benedict
XIII., had addressed to several Spanish bishops letters
relating and approving in all particulars the election
of April. Every day he used at Mass the prayer yro
Pay a for Urban.* " We have elected a real Pope,"
he wrote on April 8 ; " the Romans may tear me limb
from limb before they get me to go back on to-day's
election."

It is plain that the two future Popes of Avignon are
most forward and emphatic in their defence of the
legality of the acts of the conclave, and in making
known Urban's election to the Christian world. There
is no protest, no exchange of ideas as to the strange
situation created for the Church, no fear for the future.
All behave as if Urban's election could give rise to no
serious dispute.

When later on the electors are confronted with the

1 Raynald gives the full text of this document, a. 1378^ No. 19. Cf.
D^AcHERYj Spicilegium, t. i. p. 763. Du Boulay, Historia Univ. PariSf
t. iv. p. 497.

2 Pastor, Geschichte de)- Pclpste, 2nd Ed., t. i. p. 686. Gayet, pp. 107,
141.

3 Raynald, a. 1368, No. 17. Robert, Elector Palatine, in 1379, wrote
to his cousin Charles V., that he had seen more than eighteen letters
from the cardinals, of which some were in autograph. They had been
written either from Rome, or outside Rome ; some were from Robert of
Geneva. All asserted that Urban had been elected by the guidance of
the Holy Spirit, and that legal forms had been observed. Baluze, Vitae
Pap. Avenion., t. ii. col. 888.

* Gayet, t. ii. p. 140. Pieces justif. , pp. 148-151. Valois, t. i. p. 73.
Cf. Baluze, t. i. col. 1462.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

letters they had written immediately after the event,
their replies will be weak and confused.^ Their most
subtle advocates will feel embarrassed, and fail to justify
them fully.

On their side, as soon as they got the announcement of
Urban 's election, the six cardinals who had stayed at
Avignon wrote to beg him to receive their homage and
respect (June 24).- They have the armorial bearings
of the new Pope put up in the town, and two of them
order Gandelin to open the gates of the castle of St
Angelo to the Pontiff.

Not until later will any doubts occur. The expression

' Proof enough is to be found in a speech at the Council of Cambrai in
1883 by Guy de Malesset^ Cardinal of Poitiers^ then Clement's legate,
making an attempt to reconcile the Flemish to the authority of Avignon.
1 have published the text according to the Paris MSS. in the Reime des
sciences eccl. (se'rie ix. t. iii. p. 262), Bibl. Nat., 15561, f. 108, and Rome
MS., Bibl. Vat., Armarium liv. vol. xiv. f. 1)3. Baluze has copied a few
sentences from it, t. i. 1106. The cardinal attempts to reply to this
objection : Jllas (litteras) noii legi, sed supponatur quod ita coiitineatur
. . . In facto, sic Juit Veritas quod dictus Bartho/omaeus litteras illas petiit
a nobis omnibus, fuit sibi responsum quod nunquam de more Sacrum Collegium
notificat per litteras electionem Summi Pontijicis principibus vel aliis, et sic se
habet Veritas, et quaeratur audacter ab omnibus principibus christianitatis , si
unquam alias ante illam intrusionem litteras de hoc a Sacro Collegia receperunt
et recipient. Ipse tamen, hoc non obstante, cum instantia habere voluit. Ad
quern finem ? bene potest cogitare. Vidit enim quod, propter notoriam
riolentiam in electione factum, mundus non obedivisset ei, sicut nee debet.
Ad attrahendum mundnm in obedientiam sui litteras habere voluit, et multa
alia dolosa ad finem istum operatus est, quae essent nimis longum enarrare."
These letters, he adds, prove nothing, because they were written in tlie
very town where the cardinals were intimidated, because they cannot
render valid an election which was simply null in law, and finally be-
cause they were contradicted and nullified by other acts of an authentic
character which took place later on at Anagni or at Fondi, the same
persons being the agents.

-These are Ange (Jrimoard, Cardinal of Albano ; G. Aycelin de
Montaigu, formerly Bishop ofTherouanne ; John de Blanzac, ('ardinal of
Nimes ; William of Chanac, Cardinal of Mende ; Peter de Monteruc,
Cardinal of I*ampeluna ; and Hugh de Saint-Martial. Kubkl, Hierarchia,
p. 22.

THE ELECTION OF URBAN VI. AT ROME

sede vacante will only be made use of in official acts after
September 12, that is to say, five months after the
Vatican election.^

The cardinals on the banks of the Rhone are therefore
in agreement with those on the Tiber as to acknowledging
Urban VI. Out of the twenty-three members of the
Sacred College, there is not a single exception. Further-
more, if there was some disturbance at the time of
balloting, would it not be easy to find at certain dates of
the Church's history conclaves still more agitated than
that of 1878 ? Is there any need to recall the tumul-
tuous elections of Popes Silverius, Vigilius, Felix IV.,
John XIL, and many others ? But no one has ever
doubted or doubts the validity of these elections.

The narrative just related rests on new documents,
which mostly proceed from the future supporters of
Clement VII. These records are, moreover, more
numerous than those that proceed from the friends of
Urban. When the Clementines are at one with the
Urbanists as to certain questions of fact, or when the
former put forth statements which are favourable to the
cause of the Roman Pope, we may accept their opinion
without fear of being mistaken.

Hence, as all acknowledge, there was perfect accord
during the first few months of Urban's pontificate :
the great excitement of the days of the month of April
was apparently forgotten. The Pontiff who had been
elected at Rome was accepted unhesitatingly not only
by the Sacred College, but by all Catholic Christendom.
But if the election of April is indisputable, the September
election is unlawful. Urban and his successors are
then the true Roman Popes, they belong to the true

' Conrad Eubkl, Das Jtinerar der Pilpste zur Zeit des grossen Schisnw.s',
llistor. Jahrbiicher, xvi.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

line, which can be traced back to Peter, and which
continues to Pius X. Those who, Hke M. Chenon^ and
M. de I'Epinois, call the future Pope Clement VII. an
anti-pope, take their stand upon some of the surest of
historical documents, and their opinion will certainly
prevail in the future.

1 Histoire Ghierale, published by Lavisse and Rambaud, t. iii. p. 319.
I should^ however, prefer the term/tf/*e Pope. The election of the Popes
of Avignon had not the odious character of the anti-canonical elections
of anti-popes, who in preceding- centuries unlawfully ascended the chair
of St Peter. Later on it will be shown that the term Schism is also
badly chosen from the theological point of view. There was no dis-
obedience to the true Shepherd, which is Schism if one speak exactly, but
it was possible to be mistaken as to who then lawfully held the power of
the Keys. See further on, ch. ix. p. 187.

CHAPTER III

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

§ 1. Causes.

A |FEW weeks after the election of Urban, several
cardinals, and particularly those of Glandeve and
Vergne, had taken counsel secretly with their col-
leagues who had remained at Avignon. They had also
put the sovereigns of Europe on their guard against the
official accounts which had already been sent. They
had taken care to warn Charles V. above all, either by
confidential letters or by official messages. Already an
indescribable confused rumour of revolt and treason
began to spread, and no news from Rome came to
estabHsh the truth in its exactitude.

On the contrary, the Pope's ambassadors had nothing
more urgent to do than to betray their sender. More-
over, they had been sent off too late, just when the
unfavourable rumours about Urban began to be dis-
seminated. Further, the conduct of one of them seems
to reveal an extraordinarily treacherous character.
Peter de Murles, sent to King Charles, doubtless dis-
charged his outward and public mission with correctness.
But, being suborned by certain of the cardinals and by
the camerlingo, this unscrupulous diplomatist disavowed
in a whisper everything which he was commissioned to
affirm aloud ; he scattered doubt and awakened every
kind of suspicion as to the lawfulness of the Pontiff who
D 49

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

had sent him. He became the echo of every evil
report, and related with much exaggeration all the
violence shown by the Romans towards the Sacred
College before and during the election.^

A second embassy, made up of James of Ceva, and
Raymond of Capua, the confessor of St Catherine of
Siena, whom WilHam de la Voulte, Bishop of Valence,
was to join, never reached the court of Charles V.
Later on, WilHam and Ceva took the other side."

In Castile and in Portugal, the ambassador John de
Roquefeuille played the same equivocal part. It was
the fate of Urban always to be betrayed by those whom
he selected to defend his case, and whom he had advanced
to the highest dignities.^

Thanks to these disloyal manoeuvres, a certain
hesitation began to be shown beyond the Alps, at Paris,
as at Avignon, among civil as well as among ecclesiastical
authorities. People wanted to know, in their anxiety
and curiosity, what was going to take place in Rome and
Italy.

Soon events would reply.

First of all, as has been seen, the cardinal electors
had never considered Urban's election illegal, and
therefore to be set aside and replaced as soon as
possible. They had got every personal advantage out
of the situation that they could possibly obtain. Their
scruples were but slowly aroused : their desire for a
change, and their hope of getting together a fresh

1 Valois, t. i. p. 92. Christine de Pisan, Livre des fain et bonnes
mceurs du aage roi Charles V. , iii. 52.

2 Cf. Denifle, Chartularium, t. iii. No. 1615. The ten letters published
by the learned Dominican were recently discovered in the State archives
at Siena, whither they were no doubt taken by llaymond of Siena him-
self. Cy. Valois, t. i. p. 124.

3 Valois, t. i. p. 198 ; t. ii. p. 285.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

conclave, appeared only by degrees : their interests
and their hatred easily concurred for the overthrow of
Prignano.

What were the causes of this sudden revulsion ?
They come out several times in the depositions of the
Clementine cardinals. As soon as he was elected,
Urban's character seemed to change. Until then he
had been looked upon as a foe to vice, simony, and pomp,
as a lover of corporal mortifications, exemplary conduct,
and rigid integrity, and as an enlightened patron of
literature and art. He had been a bishop for fifteen
years, and he had not only been chosen for his Italian
descent, but for his tried prudence, his knowledge
of law, and his long practical experience. A vice-
chancellor under Gregory XL at Avignon and at Rome,
he had shown himself equal to the discharge of the most
delicate duties. " He would have been the worthiest
man in the world to be Pope, if he had never been one,"
say the historians, copying a well-known saying of
Tacitus.^ Bartholomew Prignano had been irreproach-
able : Urban was far from being so, if we are to beheve
contemporary documents.

Too certain it is that the new Pontiff was no sooner
raised to the chair of St Peter than he showed himself
inflexible in his wishes, precipitate and fanciful in his
plans of reform, more harsh than prudent, and more
passionate than wise. We may well believe a judge
whose impartiality is unquestionable, and so let us
listen to St Catherine of Siena, speaking to the Pt)pe,
whose election she had welcomed. " Holy Father,"
she wrote, " you should be glad to find someone who
helps you to see and avoid such things as might lead

^ '^ Capax imperii nisi imperasset " {Ilistor,, lib. 49). (!f. Th. ijk Nie.m
De scismate, lib. i. c. 1.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

to your discredit and the loss of souls : for the love of
Jesus crucified, mitigate a little the sudden outbursts
to which your disposition gives rise ; by all saintly
virtues, check your natural temper." '

Unhappily, Urban does not seem often to have put
these wise counsels into practice.

Why is it that the high character of his learning, the
worthiness of his moral conduct, and the indisputable
greatness of his gifts did not protect him from such a
want of tact and moderation ? May it have been that
the strong impression made by the dramatic events
which had marked the beginning of his reign caused his
mind to lose its balance at certain crises in his life ?

Immediately after his coronation, the Pope uses
roughly the foreign prelates who had come to the
Vatican to offer him their homage. And does he not
even treat them as perjurers, because they have tem-
porarily abandoned their dioceses to make a brief stay
in Rome ?

A fortnight later he is preaching in full consistory
and begins with the gracious words, " I am the good
Shepherd." But the whole of his sermon is in constant
contradiction with the text : it is couched in the most
virulent terms, wherewith he attacks the life and conduct
of the cardinals and prelates. A favourite of the late
Pope comes to him to give back a certain sum he owed
the treasury, and the newly-elect greets him with the
reproach flung by St Peter at Simon the Magician :
" Accursed, thy money perish with thee ! " - Always
angry, threatening, and harsh, he imperiously requires
the princes of the Church to reform their household and
style of entertainment, to repair at their own expense

^ NiEM, De sci^mate, lib. i. 4. Pastor, t. i. p. 137.
2 St Antonin, Summa histor.y lib, iii. tit. 22.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VIL AT FONDI

the sanctuaries, the titles of which they bear, and to
give up the gifts and pensions which sovereigns had been
good enough to grant them. He addresses them with
the bitterest invectives in pubhc. Orsini, the prelate who
had crowned him, is treated as a madman ; and Robert
of Geneva, the future Clement VIL, has to hear himself
characterised as a ribald person. The princes and
nobles are sometimes reprimanded with a sharpness
bordering on insult. No doubt all the plans of reform he
was contemplating were such as might be expected from
a Pontiff who had been chosen for his many fine
qualities ; but apparently the methods of LTrban VL
were neither always prompted by prudence nor practised
with nicety of form.^

At Rome an opposition came into being, and then it
grew. Soon it had a headquarters, a leader, and troops.
The castle of St Angelo had never opened its gates to
Urban, in spite of the definite orders of the Avignon
cardinals. At the very time of the election, Peter de
Cros, the brother of the Cardinal of Limoges, had re-
treated thither with the pontifical treasure, and waged
furtive but obstinate war against the new Pontiff.
This fortress soon became a hostile centre where the
lukewarm or discontented cardinals forgathered, where
every suspicion found expression, all grievances were
exaggerated, and where all revolts were hatched. The
dissentients soon discovered a leader in the French
cardinal John de la Grange, Bishop of Amiens. This
prelate was not at Rome when Gregory's death and the
election of Urban took place. Nevertheless he lavished
every mark of outward respect on the new Pope ; but
he seems soon to have had doubts. No doubt the cause

^ Cf, Pastor, t. i. p. 140. HefelEj History of the CouncUa, vol. x.
p. 40.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

is to be found in the violence of Urban's proceedings ;
for ever fuming and moping,i he had more than one
altercation with John de la Grange, whom he loaded
with bitter reproaches.

And this had serious consequences. The cardinal
was a favourite of Charles V. More than once the King
had had recourse to his indisputable talents as a diplo-
matist and financier, and he had loaded him with
honours and riches. On the other hand, like all the
French prelates, John de la Grange wished to see a
return to Avignon, while Urban was of an entirely
contrary opinion. Lastly, it was known at Rome,
and the Pope made no secret of the fact, that he meant
to create a considerable number of Itahan cardinals
as a counterpoise to the influence of the French.

All these circumstances combined to mark out John
de la Grange as the leader of the opposition. Jointly
with Robert of Geneva, he encouraged the commander
of the castle of St Angelo to resist, and conferred with
the captains of mercenaries. Soon the conspiracy was
organised, and desertion of the Pope was as unanimous
as adherence to him had been.

From the month of May, the town began to be
hot, and the cardinals used this as a pretext for
leaving and withdrawing to Anagni for reasons of
health. Nevertheless they did not cease testifying
all respect to Urban, and also continued to urge him
to grant them new favours.

Perhaps they felt themselves obhged to dissimulate

their plans of rebellion until they thought themselves

strong enough in the support upon which they reHed.

From the castle of St Angelo the camerlingo Peter

de Cros called to their aid the famous captain of mercen-

* Froissart, t. xvi. p. 148.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

aries, Bernardon de la Salle, Duguescelin's old com-
panion. Almost immediately two hundred lancers of
Gascony and Navarre, after putting to flight the Roman
troops at Salaro bridge on their way, took the dis-
sentient cardinals under their protection.

These preparations for reunion had at last aroused
the attention of Urban,i and helped for the moment
to bring him to more moderate views and to a clearer
idea of the true situation. In the month of June he
begged three members of the Sacred College, who had
stayed at Rome (Borsano, Corsini, and Orsini), to be-
take themselves to Anagni to discharge a delicate mission
to their colleagues : they were gently to upbraid these
malcontents for their want of confidence, and to assure
them that the new Pope would be as propitious to them
as any of his predecessors. This step was taken, and
in return the cardinals at Anagni gave the Pontiff an
assurance of their loyalty. But this did not prevent
their holding a meeting that very evening to affirm
the invalidity of the April election, and to concert
measures for the deposition of Urban. They even got
the three deputies to stay in the town of Anagni, and
to make common cause with them, but without at first
succeeding in shaking their fidelity.

The three Italian cardinals wished to continue the
negotiations ; they tried their hand at diplomacy in
order to prevent untoward occurrences, and to restore
harmony between the Sacred College and the Pope.
It is strange to make the statement, but the two
principal means extolled later on, during nearly twenty
years, for putting an end to the Schism, were put:
forward from the very beginning by his deputies in the

1 Sheuffgen^ Beitr'dge zu der Geschichte des grosaen Schismas, p. 11.
Bliemetz, in Studien und Mittheilungen , 1903, 2iid and 3rd quarters.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

name of the Pontiff. The first of these means was the
meeting of a General Council ^ in a safe town, say Venice,
Pisa, or even Naples : it is the method that was to be
crowned with success forty years later at Constance.
The second was a sort of compromise that would have
entrusted the election of a Pope to the care of six special
delegates : it is a way which was to be vainly insisted
upon many times during the years to come.

Neither the one nor the other of these expedients
gained votes for the time being. The dissentient
cardinals put aside the proposal to re-elect Bartholomew
which would have put an end to all legal objections.
They refused to consider the opinions on points of law
and fact put forth in August 1378 by John of Lignano
at Bologna, Balde at Perugia, and Colluccio Salutato
at Florence : yet they were the three most clear-
sighted lawyers of their time.-

From this time onwards the rebellion breaks out
openly. The cardinals at Anagni first send Urban an
insulting letter, calling him, amidst other abuse, the
" old Bishop of Bari," and venture to wish him more
reasonable ideas. They energetically dispute the
legality of his election, and tell him that they had only
enthroned him under the pressure of fear ; • they

^ Raynald, a. 1878, No. 43. Valois, t. i. p. 80. Gayet, t. ii., f/m'*-
justif., p. 188. Baluze, t. i. col. 1107. Scheuffgen, p. J.

2 Raynald, Nos. 31 and 36.

^ St Vincent Ferrier (De modoiw .scismate, MS. Bibl. Nation. 1170,
f. 265, 7«) also tried to excuse the cardinals on the ground of their fear
of Urban, homo J'iiriosn.s-, as he was called by the Cardinal of Brittany.
It is not until they are at Anagni, under the protection of the mercen-
aries, " postquamfuerimt stijmti annatu' .sfipendiariis," that they dare to
declare that Bartholomew is an apostate and an intruder. Their
pusillanimity seems to have lasted long. In April it had prevented
their election of a true Pope. It clings to them for several months, and
compels them to act against their conscience : first, they are afraid of the

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

denounce him as an apostate under anathema, and
summon him to abdicate.^ On August 2 they follow
up this unedifying document with their famous
Declaratio, a statement destined to become public.
Therein they set forth an inaccurate and most im-
passioned narrative of the circumstances of the election
of April 8, affirming afresh that they had only elected
Prignano to please the people and from fear of death.^
They thus constitute themselves accusers, witnesses,
and judges in a cause against a Pope formally appointed
and recognised by themselves. It is a declaration of
war, and thenceforward events hurry on.

On August the 9th the thirteen cardinals issue to
be read in public an encyclical addressed to all the
faithful, in which they repeat their account of all that
had taken place in April, and anathematise Urban as
a usurper. They declare that they have put themselves
under the special protection of Gaetani, Count of Fondi,
whom the Pope had mortally insulted.

On August 21 they write to the University of Paris
de invasore JJrhano,

A few days afterwards, August 29, they leave Anagni
for Fondi, nearer the States of the famous Jane of
Naples. The sympathies of the latter had been at
first on the side of the Roman Pope, but she had after-
wards changed her mind, because Urban had, so she
said, seriously offended her husband, Otho of Brunswick.

people^ and then of the Pope I ** Were the cardinal electors wrong to
hold their peace so long?" asks the Saint. ^^ Ought they to have pre-
ferred death to such dissimulation?'^ "I do not take the liberty of
passing judgment upon them/^ he replies.

' Du BouLAY, t. iv. p. 470.

^ Ibid., p. 468 fF. Baluze, t. ii. col. 821. Hefele, History of the Councils,
vol. X. p. 4. ChristophEj Histoire de la Papautt au XIV^ siecle, t. iii.
p. 354.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

On September 7 the old Cardinal Tebaldeschi dies.
He was a witness, and to some extent a victim, of
the election of April 8. Up till the end he affirmed
that he was convinced of the lawfulness of the choice
of Urban.^

About September 15 the three Italian cardinals,
tired of keeping up useless negotiations, rejoined their
colleagues at Fondi. Possibly each of them may have
been induced to this disloyalty by the hope of being
elected Pope, for it appears that this fallacious promise
had been held out to each of the three in turn : ^ and
thus ambition prepared the way for treachery. Per-
haps, too, they were persuaded by the news that Urban
was on the point of creating twenty -nine new cardinals
to fill the vacancies made in the Sacred College by the
departure of the thirteen Frenchmen.^

The intervention of the King of France came to
accelerate a solution which had thenceforward been
anticipated. Worked upon by malicious confidential
disclosures, Charles had more and more suspicions as
to the legitimacy of Urban. The reports sent him by
the dissentients only confirmed him in his unfavourable
attitude towards the elect of Rome. On September
18 a letter from the King of France reached Fondi.
The exact text is not extant, but its general tenor is
known. It encouraged the dissentients to persevere
in their plans, and to elect a Pope who would be ac-
ceptable to France, and that they might reckon on help
in men and money.*

» Raynald, a. 1878, No. 41.

2 NiEM, l)e .scismute, lib. i. 1). Baluzk, t. i. col. 10.50 and 1139.
^ Baluze, col. 1 2.30. Urban carried out his plan on September 1 8.
Cf. Demfle, ChartuL, t. iii. p. .555 ff.

* Valois, t. i. p. 99 ff. About the same date, the King wrote to Jane

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

Doubtless this letter removed the cardinals' last
scruples. On September 20 the thirteen prelates met
in Gaetani's palace at Fondi, went into conclave, and
unanimously, excepting one vote, elected Robert of
Geneva. The three Italian cardinals, feeling that they
had been trifled with, did not vote, but they regarded
the election at Fondi as canonical. The new Pontiff
immediately took the name of Clement VII. and was
crowned on All Saints' Day.

§ 2. Clement is Recognised by Several Nations.

Robert was related to the principal families of Europe,
and on his mother's side he was little cousin of the King
of France. His brother was Count of Geneva and his
mother the Countess of Boulogne. Appointed Bishop
of Therouanne while still young, he had occupied the
see for seven years, then that of Cambrai for three years,
and without giving his people any cause for serious
complaint. At that time his age was thirty-six. He
was of imposing stature, with a ringing voice, of an
agreeable appearance, and of a light and taking wit.
A man of high descent, he liked and protected the
nobles, soldiers, and artists. But there was one blot on
his life that nothing could efface. The year before, he
had directed against the town of Cesena, which had
rebelled against the Pope, some troops of foreign
mercenaries, and he was said to have covered every sort
of excess they had committed with the mantle of his
authority. These cruelties had excited the horror of
all Italy. They had come to look upon Robert rather
as a leader of condottieri than as the living representative

of Naples to recommend the dissentient cardinals. This letter was
discovered by M. Valois at the Cambrai library, MS. 940, No. 92.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

of the good Shepherd. St Antoninus then compared
him to Herod or to Nero.

It was not his conscience that put obstacles in his way.
Thus he felt no scruple, as the sequel will show, in
granting the King of France the nomination of the most
important benefices in the kingdom,^ and in disposing
of the Papal States so as to suit his policy. For
instance he did not hesitate to give over a large part of
the sacred patrimony to the clever Duke of Anjou to
enable him to create his fantastic and ephemeral
kingdom of Adria.^ It is even for this object that the
elect of Fondi sacrificed his desire to take up his
residence at Avignon immediately. He remained in
Italy till the year following in order to foment and
increase its discord,^ and to try to estabhsh in it his too
precarious authority.

Thus, then, is the Schism completed. The cardinals
of Fondi have rent the robe of Christ with their own
hands. Were their reasons for so acting sufficient?
I think not. And who can beheve that they were ?
Were the fears which may have overhung the election
of Urban certain to have impaired the freedom of the
electors ? Then, what can be said of the re-election
which held good for so many months ? Moreover,
their conduct is too often marked with passion, and
considerations of personal interest have too large a
share in them. If only they could have foreseen how
divided Christendom would be, how many consciences
would be scandahsed and souls tortured with doubt in
all parts of the CathoHc universe ; if only they could

' Bull of Jan. 6, 1380, addressed to Charles V.

2 DuRRiEu, Le royaume d'Adria, Revue de QucMions histor., 1880,
t. xxviii. p. 45.

3 Vai^ois, t. i. p. 1()7. Froissart, t. xvi. p. 67- Chronic. Karoli VI.,
lib. xi. c. 9.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

have taken count of the progress of heresy in England
and of its propagation in Bohemia ; or had it been
permitted them to hear the mockery and insults of the
enemies of our faith ! ^ Or if, again, they could only
have been forewarned that this sacrilegious division
would last forty years, lowering the supreme pontificate
in the eyes of the faithful and princes, adjourning in-
definitely all plans of reform, and giving rise to every
kind of religious and secular evil ! Then doubtless they
would have shrunk from the fatal consequences of
actions as thoughtless as they were unjust. For the
third time, had they thought it necessary they would
have elected Urban, or they would have shown more
patience in enduring the consequences of their first
choice, of which they alone were the authors.

The inspired seer, Catherine of Siena, made bitter
reproaches against the three Italian cardinals who had
deserted Urban. These recriminations are only too
well justified, and fall a fortiori on the French prelates
who had instigated the rebellion. " You have turned
to flight, Hke cowardly knights," she wrote them. " It
is you who have taught me not to believe you. . . . Who-
ever is not for the truth is against the truth. Whoever
at Fondi was not for Christ on earth, for Pope Urban,

^ Here are the lines of an anonymous rhymester, whose quatrains were
discovered at Rouen by M. Valois, t. i. p. 383.

Les sacrements faudront si le scisme The sacraments will fail if the

demeure, schism stays,

Juifs s'esjoiront, Sarrasins sans Jews will rejoice, Sarrasins without

demeure delay

Assaudront crestiens. Cis est nes Will attack Christians. Born of woe

de malheure Is he who is against the Council

Qui contre le Conseil pour le scisme and for the Schism.

labeure.

Cf. 0pp. Gerson., ii. col. 115. Mart^jne, Thesaurus, ii. col. 1159. H. dk
Langenstein, Invectiva, v. 243. Epistola Pads, ii. 30. Ghronic. Karoli
VI., lib. ii. c. 2. Froissart, t. xi. p. 251.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

was against him. I tell you, you have done ill, you and
the anti-pope, and I repeat that it is a member of the
devil who has been elected. Had Clement been a
member of Christ, he would rather have died than have
consented to so great an evil, because like us he knows
the truth, and cannot plead ignorance as an excuse." ^

From the very day of the election, the cardinals took
care to inform the Catholic world that they had elected
Clement VII.

While the faithful, astounded and scandalised, were
asking what could be the motive of such a sudden change
of mind. Urban took measures to defend his outraged
rights. On November 29, 1378, after due inquiry and
with full knowledge, the Roman Pope hurled a bull of
excommunication against Clement, and smote along
with him all the principal fomenters of the Schism,
" these workers of iniquity and perdition." ^ No one
was to entertain them, and whoever took part in an
expedition against thetn would gain the same spiritual
benefits as a crusader in the Holy Land.

It was an immediate call to arms. Furthermore,
the subjects of all princes who took the new Pope under
their protection were released from their oath of loyalty,
whether their masters were kings or bishops. It was
an appeal to spiritual weapons.

Clement on his part did not remain inactive. He
sent distinguished legates to the Catholic sovereigns and
princes, and particularly to Charles V.

The King of France, as we have seen, was already
gained to the cardinals' side.>jHis political interests

' Letter 31*, see Raynalp, a. 1.378, Nos. 55 and 59. Ibid., a. 1379, Nos.
21 and 13. Du Boulay, t. iv. p. 518. Chavin de Mai^n, Uistoire de
Ste Catherine de Sienne, t. ii. p. 462.

2 Raynali), a. 1378, No. 103.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

inclined him towards Avignon and drew him away from
Rome : he therefore had no difficulty in yielding to the
arguments of Clement VII. and his party. But how
were the University, the bishops, and the whole country
to be dragged into the schismatical camp ? The
University had at the very outset sung the Te Deum on
Urban's election. It had sent ambassadors to Rome
to present him with the roll (rotulus), i,e, the list of those
whom it nominated to benefices. Up till the month of
July the Roman Pope was almost universally acknow-
ledged in France. But, from this date and onwards,
the cardinals had sent emissaries to the King, the
Universities, and members of Parliament. On the way
through Avignon these messengers had found five
cardinals out of six gained over to the side of the revolt.
These united their letters to those of their colleagues in
Italy. All invited Charles to grant his protection to the
Sacred College. " These good friends the cardinals
belonged to the King and to his household," naively
observed the Great Chronicles of France,^

The King then summoned a great meeting of the
clergy, at which Clement's delegates spoke against the
election of Urban. This little national council gave no
formal decision, but advised Charles to take up an
attitude of prudent watchfulness. " The matter is
very high, perilous, and doubtful," said the members of
this gathering.^ The King paid respect to this counsel,
and adjourned any further public declaration.

A few weeks later, a fresh exchange of correspondence
between Paris and Anagni took place. Charles, more
and more worked upon, let himself be persuaded by

^ T. vi. p. 441 (Ed. P. Paris). Cf. Benoist, La politique du roi
Charles V., p. 218. Denifle, ChartuL, t. iii. p. 558.
- Benoist^ p. 219. Du Boulay, t. iv. pp. 524 and 576.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

degrees and declared in favour of the cardinals, even
before the election of Robert of Geneva. The latter
felt that he had to thank him for this later on. The
emphatic expressions used by the elect of Fondi showed
a warmth of gratitude which was not slow to manifest
itself in subsequent actions.

A second meeting was held at Bois-de-Vincennes after
Clement VII. 's election had been made known in France
(November 16). The King was advised to declare
openly in favour of his relation, who would doubtless
establish himself at Avignon. This decision was clearly
in accord with the inmost ideas of Charles, for he
hastened to have the news of the second election
published in all the churches with the usual ceremony.

Despite the declaration of the royal will, the Uni-
versity had some difficulty in changing its mind. The
rector asked for delay before coming to a decision ;
England and Picardy said they would remain neutral.

Meanwhile the skilful John de Cros was sent by
Clement to Paris to represent him and defend his
interests. He had received authority from the latter to
proceed against any Urbanists he might meet with in
France and to strengthen the confidence of the
Clementines.^

On April 6, 1379, the cardinal was received at Notre-
Dame. A few days later he spoke warmly and with
boldness before the King and the princes and prelates,
and gave such an account of the election of Urban as
might allay the scruples of his auditors. On May 7
he repeated his story at the castle of Bois-de-Vincennes
before a new and selected audience. Doubtless he
forgot to say that he had been the first to give his vote
for Bartholomew, and that he had formerly expressed

^ Vaj.ois, t. i. p. l.'JO. Dknifle, t. iii. No. 1621.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

his intention of electing him definitely on rightful
grounds. However this may be, two other cardinals
who had recently reached Paris, Guy de Malesset and
William d'Aigrefeuille, warmly supported what he had
said, and the whole assembly expressed itself as con-
vinced. It exhorted the sovereign to recognise the
elect of Fondi, to offer him obedience and support.

Naturally the people followed their pastors. Even
the University agreed to change its opinions and to
submit, but the scholars of England and Picardy stood
out. A rather celebrated doctor of theology, Simon
Freron, was bidden to inform Charles of the Alma Mater's
decision to submit. He did it with such a lack of
professional dignity as to have incurred the charge of
platitude ^ from a historian ; but those who were in-
terested pretended to regard this adhesion as being
as spontaneous as it was unanimous. The French
people hastened to send Clement a list of its petitions,
and wished to reap the fruits of its submission without
delay. Peter d'Ailly, at that time a simple bachelor
of theology, was commissioned to take it to the new
Pope (before May 24).

Such, then, seems to have been the role of Charles V.
in these dehcate circumstances. As the advice he re-
ceived perhaps corresponded with his secret wishes,
and certainly with his political interests, he was drawn
into the way of schism without his conscience being
disturbed. The really culpable in such a conjuncture
were rather the cardinals of Fondi, and next the Pope
whom they had created. At the bar of history they
have taken upon themselves a terrible responsibihty,
the gravest matter being perhaps their deception of
the King, and their having induced him to become

1 Valois, t. i. p. 139. Cf. Denifle, t. iii. No. 1624 ff.

E 65

I THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

the unwitting fomenter of the Schism, thus giving
permanence to most lamentable division.

No doubt this important matter was not discussed
in France under all judicial forms ; no doubt pressure
was put upon the University, then so influential ; but
we must not accuse Charles V. of bad faith and unfair-
ness. Even on his death-bed he declared that he was
determined to hold fast to the authority of Clement,
because of what the cardinals had revealed. It is, then,
upon the latter alone that the stern condemnation of
impartial history must fall.

Let this much be granted : had not France upheld
Clement, the rebellious party would have had little
appearance of solidity. Thanks to Charles V., the
kingdom of Naples decides for the Pope who had been
elected on its borders. Scotland takes sides with France
through their common hatred to England, which had
declared for Urban. Castile, neutral at first, declares
for Clement for hke reasons.^ Portugal is also won
over through the renown of the house of France for
orthodoxy. The Duke of Savoy takes sides with
Clement because of his being a relation. Lastly, Aragon
and Navarre later on adhered to the new Pope, owing
to secret intrigues, and the consummate skill and in-
defatigable zeal of his legate Peter de Luna.^ The
incentives to these coaHtions are not to be sought in
the evidence of fact and proof. Furthermore, they
were never made with unanimity, but were rather
brought about by aUiances and poHtical passion.

^ Cf, Valois, t. i. p. 210 et passim. Delalonde, Etude historique et
critique sur le Grand Schisme, p. 93.
2 Valois, p. 212 ff.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

§ 3. The Boundaries of the Two Obediences.

It is now plain that the revolt had caught fire like
a train of gunpowder throughout almost the whole
of Western Europe. What, then, remained to Urban ?
The greater part of Christendom was faithful to him.
First, the Empire, whose ruler, Charles IV., had declared
in his favour from the beginning, and was always re-
solutely opposed to the Schism. He had his son
Wenceslas recognised by the Empire as King of the
Romans, and knew how to defend the pontifical election
in the diet with success, as soon as it was disputed. In
addition to the truth of fact which made the Roman
Pontiff legitimate, diplomatic reasons likewise deter-
mined his conduct. Since the Popes had been at
Avignon, the Emperor had lost almost all his influence
in the Church. Since Urban wished to reign in Rome,
it was good policy to defend him against the French
cardinals.

Unfortunately for the Roman Pontiff, the Emperor
died the very day of the election at Fondi, September
20, 1378. His son Wenceslas could not help following
in his steps, but he did not equal his father, either in
intellectual culture, or political skill, nor, above all, in
moral dignity. Nevertheless, when the envoys of the
King of France wished to drag him into the Schism,
he gave them a pretty rough reception at Frankfort.
At the meal which was offered them, they were served
at a table by themselves, as if they were schismatics.
This was in February 1379. In fine, despite a few
partial defections,^ the Empire remained true to the
Roman Pope.

1 Thus Duke Leopold III. of Austria sold his allegiance to Clement for
120,000 golden florins. Metz, Toul, and Verdun were from the outset

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Perhaps this check to French pohcy must be attributed
to the presence of ambassadors from England.^ Here,
again, the interest of the king across the Channel was
in accord with the clearly Urbanist opinions of his
clergy and faithful people. During the preceding half
century the English had had to complain more than once
of. the secret ill-will of the Popes of Avignon. The
Schism of Charles V., the hereditary enemy, indirectly
confirmed the orthodoxy of Richard II. and his people.
For its part, the Parliament showed a refractory intoler-
ance of the supporters of Clement.

The Cardinal of Poitiers, Guy de Malesset, could never
make his way into England in order to expound and
defend the case of the elect of Fondi there. In the
continental provinces which were under the authority
or influence of England, the struggle between the two
jurisdictions begins and continues long with varying
fortunes. In the South-West, Urban carries the day;
in Brittany, Clement holds sway, not undisputed. But
on the other side, faithful Ireland declares for the most
part in favour of Rome.^

In Flanders, the situation was more complicated.
The country had long been attached to France by
geographical position and political bonds, and by its
prince, Louis de Maele, father-in-law of the Duke of
Burgundy, the brother of Charles V. But the Flemish
people, naturally and traditionally independent, had
every interest, from a commercial point of view, in

enfeoffed to the Pope of Avignon. Albert of Bavaria, Wenceslas of
Luxembourg, Adolphus of Cleves, Robert of Bar, and John of Lorraine
also declared for Clement.

^ Vai^is, i. p. 241 if., develops the ideas contained in this and the
following sentences.

2 Cf. Revue des qued. historiques, July 1003, p. 802, and January 1905^
p. 274.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VII. AT FONDI

looking towards England. When, in consequence of the
war, EngHsh wool no longer reached Damme, Sluys,
Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, the powerful and stirring
citizens of Flanders complained to the Count, and
sometimes armed the warlike militia of the towns and
country against him. This same year, 1378, the people
of Ghent, supported by the English, had just broken
out in a revolt that lasted seven years.

Moreover, the Flemish had excellent reasons for
believing in the legitimacy of Urban and for remaining
obstinately attached to him. For who had informed
Louis de Maele of the Roman election and its canon-
icity ? ^ It was the very person who, six months later
on, was to become the opponent of the Pontiff whom
he had declared to be legitimate, it was Robert of
Geneva. The Pope of Fondi had an awkward task
in trying to struggle against a belief which was founded
on his own word.

A few months later. Cardinal Pileo di Prata wrote
from Venice to Louis de Maele and confirmed the
first election of the Sacred College.^ The letters in an
opposite sense from Pampeluna could not make him
change his mind. Lastly, the clergy of Flanders had
got the Count to gather about him every possible source
of enlightenment and to consult the learned University
of Bologna. Their reply was favourable to Urban.

It is, then, with full knowledge that Louis de Maele
separated from France and resisted all the solicitations
of the party of Clement. He made it boldly known
in a public document : " We are ready to refer the
matter to a general council," he said. " In no wise would

^ Meyer, Annates rerum Flandricarum, p. 169. Raynald^ a. 1378,
Nos. 17 and 62.

2 Du BouLAY, t. iv. p. 14. D'AcHERY, SpicUegium, t. iii. p. 743.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

we become separated from the unity of the Church, but
we will never desert the authority of Urban VI., who
was elected in the first place, and whom we have held
until now to be the true Pope." ^

If the prince, the clergy, and the people declared for
the Roman Pontiff, on the other hand the four bishops
of this country turned towards Clement, John T.
Serclaes of Cambrai, and Peter d'Orgemont of Therou-
anne, were each of them successors of Robert of Geneva.
The Bishop of Arras, Peter Mazuyer, like the two former,
depended on the metropoHtan of Reims in things
spiritual : in temporal matters he was a subject of
Marguerite, dowager Countess of Flanders, and devoted
to Clement. As for Tournai, the town belonged to
France since the time of Philip -Augustus : it was French
in language and feeling, and its chapter had just elected
Peter d'Auxy of Burgundy as bishop. -

So, then, this was the situation in Flanders ; on
one side the faithful, the prince, and the common
clergy ; and, on the other, the dignitaries of the Church.
The counsels, the speeches, and the orders of the King
of France, of his envoys, from the outset had no success
there whatever.^ Their accounts were regarded as
suspect beforehand.

The Flemish, who belonged to the diocese of Cambrai,
warned their bishop that they were minded to remain
provisionally under the jurisdiction of Urban. Nor
did those who were in the diocese of Tournai accept
the Pope of Avignon with any greater readiness. The
latter had recourse to John van West, Dean of Tournai,

1 Cf. Baluze, t. i. col. 492 and o.51.

2 Valois, t. i. pp. 25.3 and 255.

3 Mgr. HAUTCffiUR, Histoire de Saint-Pierre de Lille, t. ii. p. 88. Cf.
Gallia Christiana, t. iii. p. 229.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VIL AT FONDI

to whom Urban sent his bulls about 1380/ and who
established himself at Ghent. Apart from the castel-
lanies of Dunkirk, Bourbourg, and Cassel, which were
dependencies of the Duchess of Bar, all Flanders obeyed
the Roman Pope. After hesitating somewhat, Hainault
remained neutral ; and the Duke of Brabant behaved
to Clement with cool politeness.

Italy is the centre of the great struggle. It too was
at first divided between the two obediences, but became
the principal bulwark of the Roman Pontiff. From
the beginning of the revolt, the adherence of Queen
Jane and her husband Otho of Brunswick procured
for Clement the submission of the kingdom of Naples
in the South, and of the Marquisate of Monteferrato
in the North. Furthermore, the Gascon and Breton
mercenaries, entirely at the beck of the elect of Fondi,
held a part of the country through terrorism. But
public opinion was hostile to the French, and to the
Pope whom they called the " executioner of Cesena."
Florence and Milan rallied to the Pope of Rome. In
several encounters the foreigners were beaten, and the
castle of St Angelo was retaken by the Romans (April
27, 1379). At this news the Pontiff of Fondi fled
and took refuge in Naples. But three days later the
town rose with shouts of " Long live Pope Urban !
Death to Clement ! " In fear of these disturbances and

^ He died in 1384, and was succeeded by Willem de Coudenberghe, who
died in England ; then by William della Vigna, a Benedictine, Bishop of
Ancona. At Malines, they recognised John Ysewyns, whom Rome
appointed as spiritual and temporal administrator of the diocese of
Cambrai in 1400. Cf. Neefs, "Notes sur la situation de la Belgique
pendant le Grand Schisme," Revue catholique de Louvain, September 15,
1876. Baeten, Verzameling van Naamrolen Betrekkelijk de Kerkeljke
Geschiednis van het Aartshisdom van Mechelen, t. i. p. 5. Miraeus,
Opp. dipt, et hist., ii. p. 1030. Cf. Revue des sciences ecciesiast., February
1902.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

threats, and moreover with Httle confidence in such
help as the Duke of Anjou might bring, Clement left
rebellious Italy and embarked for Marseilles. After
some tiresome vicissitudes he came to Provence, and
only found complete safety under the sheltering walls
of the pontifical palace. He reached Avignon on June
20, 1379.^ There he found a peaceful capital, a magni-
ficent palace, a court of cardinals, and a thousand re-
miniscences of power and greatness. He once more
repaired the chain of periods gone by and the tem-
porarily interrupted succession of the Popes of Avignon.
So, then, the seats of the two Popes are, from this
time forward, definitely settled, and the great outlines
of their respective obediences clearly marked out. The
whole of the West on the borders of the Atlantic belongs
to Clement, except England and most of her possessions
in France. On the other hand, Germany in greater
part, Flanders and Italy, with the exception of the
kingdom of Naples, are under Urban. Starting from
Edinburgh and drawing a boundary line between
England and Scotland to the Irish Sea, then going on
from Nieuwport to Liege, from Liege to Bale, from Bale
to Constance, from Constance to the West of Genoa,
and lastly passing between the kingdom of Naples,
officially subject to Clement, and the Papal States,
we shall obtain a fairly accurate geographical demarca-
tion of the jurisdictions of Rome and Avignon.^ As to

1 Valois, t. i. pp. 1.5B-178.

2 EuBEL and Haupt, Das Itinerar der Pilpste zur Zeit des grossen
Schismas, Historische Jahrhiicher, xvi. p. 545. Noel Valois, pp. 292
and 305. Eubel, Die provisiones praelatorum, Romische Qtiartalschrift,
Rome, 1804. The information furnished by Haupt is more extensive as
to time, that given by M. Valois is more exact as to place. Moreover, it
will always be difficult to establish fully the series episcoporum according
to the archives either of Rome or of Avignon.

THE ELECTION OF CLEMENT VIL AT FONDI

Greece, it will never either fall under Rome or Avignon,
and apparently receives with some indifference nomina-
tions made by either of the Popes.

Only it is well to note that, even in the countries
that are faithful to Clement, there is always a more
or less numerous Urbanist party to be found ; and it
is the same with regard to Clement in the provinces
which acknowledge Urban. Hence the frontier-
boundaries and territorial divisions will always be rather
uncertain. What is more, kingdoms, counties, and
bishoprics will sometimes change jurisdictions because
they have changed sovereigns or chiefs. Sometimes
the same ecclesiastics, like the Bishops of Bale and
Constance, like William de la Voulte, Bishop of Valence
and Die,^ will offer their allegiance first to Urban, and
then to Clement. At Dax, the opposite happens ;
the bishop, John Beaufaix, will go over to Clement.
At Bayonne the chapter will be divided between the
two jurisdictions ; part of the diocese will support
Urban, and the rest Clement. Gascony becomes a
regular chess-board. At Coire, the head of the diocese
will hold to Rome, while the chapter inclines to Avignon.
Sometimes, as at Liege, the Clementine bishop will be
overthrown by his people, and his successor receives
the bulls of Urban. Some dioceses will have two pastors
at once, and some monasteries two abbots ; some
religious orders, like the Carmelites, two generals ; and
a few orders of chivalry two grand masters.^

1 Albanes, Gallia Christiana novissima (Marseilles, 1899), p. 363.
Four years later, William, who had beeu Bishop of Marseilles, and whom
we saw guard of the conclave on April 8, was transferred to Albi, where
he died in 1392.

2 Of. Pastor, t. i. p. 154. Delaville de Roulx, Un anti-grand-maftre de
rOrdre de Saint-Jean de Jerusalem , Bibl. de I'Ecole des Chartes, t. xl.
p. 523.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

The Schism, which devastates the Church at large,
will have its reverberations in little down to the smallest
ecclesiastical circles ; and anarchy in the government
will engender a multitude of scandals and disorders,
with a general diminution of hierarchical authority,
as of the supernatural Ufe.

In fine, Urban's obedience extends over larger
numbers, and the motives that influenced its recognition
were perhaps more disinterested and certainly more
sound. The obedience of Clement looks the more
dazzling, especially on account of the support given
to the Pope of Avignon by the eldest daughter of kings
and popes, the University of Paris, the mother and
mistress of all the schools of Christendom. It is the
University that takes care to give this assurance in
a letter addressed to the King, not without a touch
of self-satisfaction and vain-glory. " The obedience
of Rome is the wider," they say, " altera amplior ; but
ours is the more intelligent and hale, altera sanior,'' ^
This affirmation is too interested to be free from sus-
picion : only the former part of it can be accepted.

1 Froissart, t. xvi. p. 146. Chronic. Karoli F/., lib. xvi. c. 3. t. ii.
p. 160.

CHAPTER IV

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

§ 1. Saints in both Jurisdictions.

In spite of this ever to be regretted Schism, in spite
of all the disorders which resulted from it, saints did
not cease to appear, to shine in the Church, and to pro-
duce fruits of salvation, and even to exhibit those
supernatural effects of divine action which are called
miracles. They are to be found in either obedience.
The sap of sanctity rises at all times and in all places ;
and the material and accidental irregularity of the
mysterious channels used by the Holy Spirit does not
prevent grace from producing in souls every kind of
supernatural effect. God has never confined justifica-
tion or sanctification to this or that section of the Church
because of passing disorders for which the faithful are
not in any way responsible. It would, then, be illogical
to infer the lawfulness of one obedience and the un-
lawfulness of another, because such and such a saint
supported one pope or another. On each side we find
some of the beatified and even some wonder-workers.
The saints who were present in Rome or lived near the
theatre of events remained faithful to Urban ; those
who were born in countries where the rulers or bishops
recognised the Pope of Avignon, adhered to Clement.
All of them followed their natural guides.

There was, then, at Siena, one of the most remark-

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

able saints the Church has ever honoured at her altars.
Informed from the earliest age with the most remark-
able graces, she was not satisfied with edifying her
sisters in the cloister and ministering to the plague-
stricken in her birthplace ; she felt that she was called
by God to give greater services to the see of St Peter.

We have remarked already that only a divine
mission can explain the part she played in the affairs
of the Church, the encouragements and subsequently
the objurgations that she dared to address to the
sovereign Pontiff, the reproaches wherewith she loaded
the dissentient cardinals, the " evil pastors of the
Church." 1 " What you want to have," she wrote to
them, " is a French Pope."

Several times she takes upon herself to send her
confessor, Raymond of Capua, on an embassy to Charles
v., whom she wished to turn away from the Schism.
In the very year in which she breathed out her great
spirit to God (1B80), Urban wished to send her as a
delegate to Jane of Naples to rally the princess to the
Roman obedience.- She was to have been accompanied
by Saint Catherine of Sweden, her sister in saintliness
and in faithfulness to the legitimate Pope. Nothing
less than their combined influence could have converted
this crafty queen, who was perverse and changeable.
Unhappily for the Church and for the latter, the embassy
was never sent ; and the letters written by the famous
Dominican saint to Jane remained unanswered and
without result.

Catherine of Sweden, another light in the Church at
the end of the fourteenth century, was at Rome at the

^ Chavin de Malan, Histoire de Sainte Catherine de Sienne, t. ii. ch.
xiii. Clf. Pastor, t. i. p. 14f3.

2 Raynald, a. 1379, No. 21 ff. Boij^nd, Acta Sanctorum Aprilis, iii.
p. 946.

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

time of Urban's election. She was obtaining from
the pontifical court the beatification of her mother,
Saint Bridgett. Herself an ocular witness of these
great events, she always asserted with the utmost
energy the legitimacy of Urban, and that from the
beginning of the conclave the cardinals had intended
to elect him.^ Nevertheless she deplored the blunder-
ing severity of his behaviour. " The election was free,"
she stated solemnly before the judges ; " the dis-
turbance (aliqualis rumor) only broke out afterward.
The cardinals had no doubt about it until the new Pope
refused them favours and demanded reforms." ^ From
another quarter, Ursula of Parma found her way to
Avignon, and begged Clement VII. to resign an usurped
pontificate.

Another of Urban's constant defenders was Peter
of Aragon, of royal origin, who had entered the order
of Friars Minor in his youth. He was reputed to be
favoured with heavenly visions, enjoyed the gift of
prophecy, and was venerated as a saint. Peter gave
the bishops of Castile the best of advice. He took
advantage of his royal kinship to reproach the King
of Aragon bitterly for his desertion of the Roman
Pontiff, and the King of France for his attachment to
a Pope whom he characterised as an intruder. Un-
happily, all his remarks remained without effect.^

In Urban's party, a conspicuous place was held by
Gerard de Groote, whom Thomas a Kempis declared
to be one of the lights of the Church. A fervidly
eloquent preacher, he was the Vincent Ferrier of Holland

^ Raynald, a. 1379^ No. 20. Cf. Bolland, Acta Sanctorum Martii, iii.
p. 515.

^ " Non erat hlandus in eorum petitionibus et corrigere eos optabat."
Raynald, Ibid.

^ Ibid., No. 5 S.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

and the North of Germany ; as a reformer of the clergy,
he is a forerunner of the mission of St Vincent de Paul ; ^
as an educator of the young, he gives up his whole
Hfe to them Hke John Calazanzio ; as the founder of
an order, he is the father of the Brothers of the Common
Life, a congregation which was very popular in our
part of the world ; he was the St John Baptist de la
Salle of the fourteenth century.

This illustrious servant of God is attached to the
most ardent of Urban 's supporters, and he writes them
an important, but hitherto unpubHshed letter,^ on the
question of the Schism. His influence and that of his
disciples uphold and defend the Roman party in om*
northern provinces.

In the opposite camp we find persons as saintly as
they were eminent who continue attached to the
Pontiff of Avignon. There is no doubt that they were
in good faith, but it is impossible to regard this as a
presumption against the lawfulness of the Popes of
Rome.

Certainly the most famous partisan of the Pontiffs
of Avignon was St Vincent Ferrier. In every country
to which his apostolic zeal carried him he left miracles
on his track. Long he was attached to Benedict XIII.,
who was a Spaniard like himself and among his penitents.

1 Clf. Bonet-Maury, Gerard de Groote, un precurseur de la Reforme. The
writer, who is a Protestant, regards his hero as one of the Reformers
before the Reformation. Petrarch, d'Ailly, Gerson, Clemangis, Nicolas
of Cusa, and later on Savonarola were often forced into the ranks of
these unconscious forefathers.

2 Bihl. Vat. MS. Lat. No. 4927, f. 137. This letter is addressed to
William de Salvarville, a doctor of theology, and canon of Paris and
Rouen. Cf. Karl Grube, Gerard Groot (Koln, 1883). Pastor, t. i.
p. 161. Valois, t. i. p. 367. A register bought at Lord Ashburnham's sale
in 1899 by M. Leopold Delisle, f. 43, B. N. nouv. acq. Lat. No. 1793.
€f. Journal des Savants, 1899, p. 325.

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

In 1380, two years after the election of Fondi, he
composed the remarkable treatise, which we have
several times quoted, on the Schism. In it he asks
three chief questions : (1) What belief in the true Pope
is necessary to salvation in a time of schism ? (2) Of
the two claimants, who should be considered the true
Pope ? (S) How must this fact be preached to the
Christian people ? ^

We shall make no detailed examination of the
manifold divisions of this most important work. Suffice
it to say that this ill-informed writer upholds out and
out the second election of the Sacred College, then
exalts the sovereign authority of the cardinals in such
a case, and finally asserts that it is the duty of every
Christian, and particularly of every prince, to defend
Clement, even with the sword. This language, which
appears to us violent, betrays Spanish warmth, and the
extraordinary influence of Peter de Luna over his
future persevering defender. Twice his extreme loyalty
to the Avignon Pontiff brought the saint to the verge
of the grave.

At last Vincent's eyes were opened, and he declared
that the obstinacy of the Cardinal de Luna, become
Benedict XIII., was an obstacle to the peace of the
Church. On that occasion - the great and humble
wonder-worker ascended the pulpit, blamed the Pontiff,
and, with almost all Spain, renounced the obedience of
Avignon. This was on January 12, 1416.

This news was greeted at the Council of Constance
with unanimous acclamations and with a solemn Te
Deum,

1 MS. Bibl. Nat. Lat. No. 1470, f. 235.

2 R. P. Fages, Histoire de Saint Vincent Ferrier (1893), t. i. App. O,
p. XXX. ; and t. ii. pp. 113 and 117.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Less well known, but not less winning, was the young
Cardinal Peter of Luxembourg, the St Aloysius of the
fourteenth century. As a University student, as
hostage to the English at Calais, as a canon of Paris,
as archdeacon of Chartres, and afterwards of Cambrai,
wherever he went he left traces of an extraordinary
sanctity, to which his extreme self-mortification bore
witness, and which was enhanced by his simplicity
and sweetness. Holding fast to the obedience of
Avignon, he^was nominated to be Bishop of Metz at
the age of fifteen by Clement VII., and shortly after-
wards he was invested with the insignia of the
cardinalate and called to take his place in the pontifical
court.

He stayed there with regret, for at Avignon he saw
many things that offended him.^ At the age of eighteen,
already ripe for paradise, he piously departed without
having ever expressed a doubt as to the legitimacy of
the Pope in whom he had placed his confidence.
Miracles took place at his soon glorious grave, and
the common people regarded these prodigies as a striking
proof in favour of Avignon.

Another wonder-worker was the devoted Colette,
who was so full of the spirit of the seraphic Francis,
and who, like Saint Theresa, became the reformer of
a great religious order. She was born at Corbie, in
the jurisdiction of Avignon, and had taken the veil
at Genoa in 1406 from the hands of Benedict XIII.
himself. At Poligny she had the honour of receiving
a visit from Vincent Ferrier. Like the latter saint,
she did not hesitate to abandon the Avignon Pontiff
when she had palpable proofs of an obstinacy fatal

1 BoLi^ND, Acta Sanctorum Julii, t. i. pp. 428 and 483. Froissabt,
t xiii pp. 40 and 333. Raynald, a. 138", c. ii. Bu Boulay, t. iv. p. 661.

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

to the Church. Like Vincent, she sent the Council
of Constance a letter of renunciation, which was read
in public and made the august assembly rejoice.^

When these persons of eminent sanctity were seen
to remain so long attached to the same obedience,
their contemporaries were tempted to entertain a pre-
sumption in favour of the Pontiff recognised by such
highly spiritual souls. But first it is to be noted that,
among the upholders of Avignon, several retracted
their opinion before dying. Further, this is how the
most celebrated of them, St Vincent Ferrier, speaks
of the matter. The saint had heard that supernatural
effects had been obtained by the faithful attached to
the authority of Bartholomew. " Some defenders of
Urban," they said, " have enjoyed great spiritual
favours. Therefore Urban is the true Pope. The
Holy Spirit shows it by these signal graces."^

St Vincent endeavours to meet the objection, and
these are the reasons he gives : " You must not," he
says, " judge of Urban's legitimacy by prophecies,
miracles, and visions, and this for three reasons. In
the first place, the Christian people have been governed
from the beginning by certain unchangeable laws
against which extraordinary occurrences can avail
nothing. ' If an angel of God,' said St Paul, ' teaches
you any other doctrine than I have taught, let him
be anathema.' As the Roman Church, that is to say,
the College of Cardinals, has recognised Clement as the
true Pope, no miracle or vision can make us believe

* DouiLLET, Sainte Collette, sa vie, ses (Buvres, son culte et son influence
(Paris, 1884). Corblet, Hagiographie du diocese d' Amiens (Paris, 1868).
Comte de Chamberet, La parfaite Vie de Sainte Colette (Paris, 1887).

2 De modemo Ecclesiae Scismate, Bibl. Nat. No. 1470, p. 1, cap. v. The
saint does not name Peter of Aragon, but probably he is in question.
Cf. Valois, t. i. p. 222.

F 81

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

the contrary. And further, these extraordinary deeds
are often neither infaUible in what they announce
nor certain in themselves ; and sometimes the devil
and not God is their author. Look at Pharaoh's
magicians. Read Cassian, who will tell you how
persons of importance were often misled by visions.
Satan often changes into an angel of Hght. He will
make use of this infernal power specially at the time
of Antichrist ; but this era of darkness is near at hand.
So let us be on our guard."

This reasoning of St Vincent's may be set against
those who rely precisely on the miracles of this wonder-
worker to attempt to estabHsh the legitimacy of the
Pontiff of Avignon, whom he upheld. If these wonders
had been wrought expressly to prove the soHdity of
the grounds upon which Clement's or Benedict's claims
were based, we should have to yield to the argument.
But this is not at all to the point. These extraordinary
facts only show that, during this sad period of forty
years, God did not deprive half of His Church of the
most remarkable manifestations of His power at the
hands of His chosen servants of both sexes.

The witness of the saints of this century is then
neither unanimous nor decisive. Is that of the members
of the two Sacred Colleges any more so ? Here above
all are to be found obstinate divisions and methods
much to be regretted.

§ 2. The Election of New Cardinals.

Each Pope desires a full senate of cardinals, and thus
to multiply his dependants. Urban, abandoned by
all the Sacred College, makes another fully equipped
by the promotion of twenty-nine princes of the Church.

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

No doubt there was never promotion on such a scale
before. In obedience to a truly CathoHc inspiration,
he had chosen his cardinals from all nations. One
alone refused, Peter de Barriere, Bishop of Autun.
But soon the arbitrary, fantastic, and tyrannical pro-
ceedings of the Roman Pope lost him those who, until
then, had shown themselves the most devoted to his
person and cause. We have already had to speak of
Pileo de Prata, Cardinal of Ravenna. At first he was
strongly attached to Urban, and in his name discharged
the most important missions in Flanders, Germany,
at Liege, Wurzburg, and elsewhere.^ But when he
returned to Italy, and was dismayed to see the incon-
sistencies of the Pontiff's conduct, his cruelties, and the
discredit into which he was falling more and more,
he condemned and abandoned him. Several members
of the Sacred College followed his example.

On the other side, Clement multiplied the number
of his cardinals for the same reasons. From the month
of December 1378, the Pontiff created at Fondi had
introduced nine newly- elect into the Sacred College.
The old ones behaved as the missi dominici of the Pope
they had elected. Mention has already been made of
the efforts of John de Cros, Cardinal of Limoges, of
William d'Aigrefeuille, Cardinal of San Stefano, and of
Guy de Malesset, Cardinal of Poitiers.

Themselves responsible for the creation of the Schism,
they lavished their endeavours on behalf of Clement,
and in doing this consisted both their interest and their
justification. John de Cros signalled himself by his

1 Valois, t. i. pp. 123^ 258^ 272. Later on he returned to the allegi-
ance of Boniface, and won the cognomen of the cardinal with three hats.
Cf. Zanetto, 11 cardinale Pileo de Prata et la sua prima legations in
Germania, 1378-82, Udine.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

severity against the supporters of Urban, and by the
numerous condemnations with which he visited them.
D'Aigrefeuille, loaded with the bounty both of the
Pontiff of Avignon and of the King of France, was
entrusted by them with a mission to Germany. He
found himself stopped at the frontier of the Empire
by the definite orders of Wenceslas.^ Malesset turned
towards the North, and attempted to convert the
Flemish, with what success will appear later on. We
have already recorded the endeavours and triumph
of the energetic Peter de Luna, Cardinal of Aragon, the
future Benedict XIII., who strove with tongue and
pen. Others less distinguished, less convinced, or
less devoted, contented themselves with forming a
court about the Pontiff of their choice at Avignon.

§ 3. Doctors of Law and Divinity,

In a less exalted station the doctors of law, milites
legum, at this period had an influence which many
excellent people considered excessive.^ Several of
them and of the most celebrated of them were consulted
by kings and princes. Most of them decided for Urban,
as has been seen. Suffice it to specify John of Legnano,
Baldo of Perusia, Coluccio Salutato, Bartholomew of
Saliceto. To all these names may be added that of
John of Bournazel, a councillor of Charles V., who
makes a summary of the contradictory allegations and
gives no decision.^

1 Valois, t. i. p. 284 ff. ; t. ii. p. 277 ff. The cardinal only got back
to Avignon from his mission on January 30, 1385. Cf. Baluze, Vitae
pap. Avien., i. col. 1011.

^ Roger Bacon often complains of it. Cf. Opera inedita, Ed. Brewer,
p. 84. Dante, Parad. ix. D'Ailly, De materia concilii gen. , pars. iii.

2 Valois, t. i. p. 127. The treatises of Baldo and Legnano are in

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

Specially do ecclesiastics take part in this dispute,
which, strictly speaking, is their own.

" Schism is a matter which appertains to the clergy,"
says a verse of those days.

Moreover, almost everywhere may be noted an out-
break of clerical pamphlets on one side or the other.

The earliest was perhaps that of Perfetto Malatesta,
Rector of Sassoferrato in the marches of Ancona. In
an imaginary dialogue between Rome and France, he
puts the latter always in the wrong and lays the re-
sponsibility for the Schism upon this " ever deceitful
and lying " nation (June 1379).^ The saintly hermit
Alphonsus, former Bishop of Jaen, also wrote a little
treatise in Urban's favour.^ About the same date,
Henry of Hesse or of Langenstein published his Epistola
pads at Paris.^ After a brief prologue, he puts on the
scene in his eighty-eight chapters one of Urban's sup-
porters and one of his opponents. The most important
point is at the end of the book, where the Urbanist
proposes the summoning of a General Council, and
defends the suggestion against all sorts of objections
brought against it by the upholder of Clement. Further
the writer also puts forward the idea of gathering

Raynald (Ed. Bar-le-duc, xxvi.)^ p. 580. John Le Fevre, Abbot of Saint
Vaast of ArraSj and king's councillor^ replied to Legnano in 1379, and
tried to refute him sentence by sentence. The MS. is at the Bibl. Nat.
Lat. MSS. 1469 and 1472, and at the Bibl. Vat. 4153 and 5608. It is
entitled De planctu bonorum.

' MS. Bibl. Nat. 1479, f. 141. Cf. Valois, t. i. p. 224.

2 Raynald, a. 1379, No. 8.

^ Valois, Ibid., p. 324. Cf. Scheuffgen, Beitr'dge zu der Geschichte des
grossen Schismas, 1889, p. 35. Kneer, Die Entstehung der KonzUiarien
Theorie zur Geschichte des Schismas und der Kirchenpolitiken (1893), p. 64.
The work of Henry of Hesse is in MS. at Paris Bibl. Nat. 14,644, the
St Victor texts at the Mayence Library, 241, at Vienna, 5097, and at the
Burgundy Library at Brussels, 2243. Cf. Pertz, Archiv., viii. 683.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

together an arbitration committee, in which each of
the two Popes, as well as the neutrals, shall be repre-
sented by two or three persons. This is his second
method of restoring speedy peace to the Church.

At that time Conrad of Gelnhausen was still eminent
at the University of Paris. He was a German like
Henry of Hesse. He also advocated the proposal for
a council in a short letter {Efistola concordiae), which
soon became a full treatise, and which he dedicated
to Charles V.^ This book, compiled about the month
of May 1380, appears to be the first treatise in which
the " theory of a council " is set forth in a scientific
and methodical manner. It shows that the assemblage
of such a synod is useful, possible, and necessary. It
refutes all objections, and particularly the one which
alleges the impossibihty of a General Council without
the Pope's authority. Lastly, it begs the King of
France to make every effort to summon such an
assembly, which alone can put an end to all evils.

A httle later on, in 1381, Henry of Hesse published
yet another work entitled Concilium yacis, or, more
accurately, to follow the metrical epilogue of the book,
Efistola concilii 'pacis,^ In the twenty paragraphs
of his letter he shows the necessity and possibility of

1 Valois, t. i. p. 325. Cf. Mart^ne et Durand, Thesaurus, t. ii. col.
1200-26. Kneer, Ibid., pp. 48-00. Scheuffgen, Ibid., p. 58. Hurler,
Die Constanzer lieformation (Leipzig, 1867), p. 364. This work of
Conrad's is found in ^IS. in the secret archives at the Vatican. Armar.
lix. t. xxi. f. 69, and at the Bibl. Nat. 14,643. Cf. Journal des Savants,
1899, p. 325, and the Historische Vierteljahrschrift (Kaiser), 1900.

2 VoN DER Hardt, Reruiu Condi. Constant., t. ii. col. 361. 0pp.
Gersonii, t. ii. col. 809. Hartwig, Leben und Schriften II. von Langenstein
(Marburg-, 1857). L'Ecuy, Essai sur la vie de J. Gerson, p. 326.
Denifle, Die Universitiiten des Mittelalters , t. i. 1 (1885), p. 607. Roth,
Zur Bibliographie des Ilenricus Hembuche de Hassia (1888), p. 97 ff. In
1899, at Lord Ashburnham's sale, the Bibl. Nat. purchased a new MS.
of the Concilium pads, f. 10 on the list. Valois, i. p. 356.

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

a General Council with energy and copiousness, but he
does not Umit its scope to the question of union. He
insists on the need of reform in the Church, and depicts
a sad picture of the religious and social evils of his
time.^ Between the treatise of Conrad of Gelnhausen
and this last work there is such a likeness of thought
and even of expression that the Epistola concilii pads
may be regarded as suggested by the Epistola concordiae,
which had appeared a year previously. There is,
however, this much difference, that Conrad ascribes
to the bishops an authority which Henry would rather
attribute to the general body of the faithful.^

Then appears upon the scene of politics and religion
a young doctor who is to play the most important
part until the end of these fatal divisions. His con-
temporaries called him Peter d'Ailly, " the eagle of
France and the Hammer for Heretics." A modern
critic could say of him with justice : " The development
of the Schism, and particularly events at the Council
of Constance, are unintelligible apart from the personal
action of the Cardinal of Cambrai. The history of these
forty years might be summed up under the heading —
Peter d^Ailly and his Period,''' ^

Born at Compiegne in 1S50, d'Ailly was sent to Paris
from his early youth to begin his studies at the Navarre
College. At this time. Realists and Nominalists were
disputing in the Rue du Fouarre and on the Place
Maubert with the same fury as the French and English
on the battlefield of Poitiers or under the walls of Calais.
At first victory seems to belong to the NominaHsts, and

1 Kneeb, Ibid.j pp. 76-86.
'^Ibid.,10Q-26.

2 Max Lenz, Revue historique, t. ix. (1879), p. 464. Of. Paul
TscHACKERTj Peter von Ailli (Gotha, 1879). L. Salkmbier^ Petrus de
Alliaco (Lille, 1886).

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

under their flag the young disciple enHsts, following his
masters. From this date onwards, Roger Bacon in
science, and William of Occam in theology, will be and
will remain his chosen masters. Made a doctor of
divinity about the age of thirty-one, he immediately
aspires to other contests than the pacific encounters
of the schools. The question of the Schism provides
him with a means of displaying at once his oratorical
talents, his polemical wit, his theological learning, and
his zeal for the highest interests of the Church.

From 1381, he throws himself into the fray, beginning
with a pamphlet in keeping with the taste of the times,
which he calls A Letter from the Devil Leviathan.^ By
a trick of writing, which was not without precedent '^
in those days, he puts into the mouth of Leviathan,
the prince of this world, an encouraging speech addressed
by this devil to all who wish to divide the Church and
to make the Schism last. Taking up his part as
Accuser, d'Ailly violently begins by attacking St Peter
and St Paul, using scriptural phrases which he purposely
takes in an opposite sense to the right one. Leviathan
greatly rejoices in the divisions that have broken out
in the Church and in the ineflicacy of the means
brought to remedy them. He is specially merry at
the expense of the members of the University who

1 Tschackert has published this text after MS. 11,804 of the Vienna
Library (Peter von Ailli, App. V.). I have read this work in No. 531 of
the Communal Library of Cambrai, and in No. 14,643, BibL Nat.
f. 331.

2 In 1351 was written a letter of Lucifer ad malos principes ecclesias-
ticos (Histor. litter, de la France, xxiv. p. 34). In 1408 appeared a
letter of Satan to John Dominici, Archbishop of Ragusa. O. Hartwig
quotes other examples in Leben und Schriften H. von Langenstein, ii. p. 9.
Cf. Wattenbach, Ueber erfundene Briefe in Handschriften, besonders
Teufelbriefe, in the Reports of the Berlin Academy of Sciences (1892).
(-/. Pastor, Histoire des Papes, i. p. 187 ; iv. p. 136.

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

demand a General Council, and who propose thus to
thwart all the devices of the devil.

" Here are the rats come out of their holes," he says ;
" and they dare to challenge us to fight. They are a
ridiculous and base set of people, without birth or
authority. And yet they laugh at my ministers, the
prelates of the Church, and dare to look them in the
face. These frogs have left their bogs, and their cries
rise from the depths of the mud. A General Council !
A General Council ! they croak without ceasing. . . .
They must be crushed, for this method is the only
efficacious one. It would quickly secure the election
of a single head and the peace of Christendom." ^

In another paper, which is quite as curious, and
which dates from the same era, Peter d'Ailly attacks
false and bad pastors. He uses the same rhetorical
device, and in the name of the Lord's prophet Ezekiel
he makes the most cutting charges against them. He
provides himself with the most terrible invectives of
Holy Scripture and with the fiery objurgations of the
Fathers to use against them. He ends with this pre-
diction, which was only to be realised thirty-six years
later : " I will save my flock, saith the Lord, and I
will give it One Shepherd." ^

It is also against these unworthy prelates that he
raises his voice in his sermons of those days. He relies
upon Joachim de Flore's prophecies of dubious authen-
ticity and on the writings of St Hildegard to threaten
them with signal punishments.^

In his panegyric on St Bernard, he addresses the
clergy and prelates who are better acquainted with

^ TsCHACKERTj App. V. pp. 17, 18.

2 Invectiva Ezechiel contra pseudopastores. Cambrai Library MS. 531,
p. 185. Cf. TscHACKERT, App. iv.

3 Tractatus et Sermones adfinenij Ed. Strasburg (1490).

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

the Code of Justinian than the law of Christ, who are
called too young to minister to souls and even to
episcopal charges, and who show themselves unworthy
of them. D'Ailly exclaims : " If only another St
Bernard could arise in our unhappy times to put an
end to the Schism, soon would he restore us to peace
and unity. May God send us a man who will stand
as a wall against the rage for schism ! 0 madness,
whither dost thou fly ? 0 error, till when shalt thou
increase ? " ^

One of Peter d'Ailly's dearest friends ^ did not confine
himself to these mystical reproaches and had no con-
fidence in pacific methods. It is true that this com-
bative theologian, before retiring to the Celestins of
Paris, had long borne the sword against the infidels,
and would have willingly drawn it against the schis-
matics. We are speaking of Philip de Maizieres, former
chancellor of the kingdom of Cyprus, a special friend
of the Blessed Peter of Luxembourg, and, in the four-
teenth century, the most ardent advocate of the
Crusade. Unhappily The Dream of a Fruit-garden
is ascribed to him,^ an almost schismatical treatise, which
had a most deplorable influence over men's minds,
in this century and particularly in after times. If

^Sermo de Beato Bernardo, partly printed by Tschackert {App. vi.)
after a MS. of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

2 To Philip de Maizieres, d'Ailly dedicated his work entitled Epistola ad
novos Hebraeos. 1 published it entire in 1889, in the Revue des Sciences
ecclesiastiques, under the heading Une page incdite de I'histoire de la Vulgate.
This letter is in MS. at Cambrai (No. 514), Reims (No. 466), and Brussels
(Burgundy Library, 18,978). Cf. Tschackert, App. iii.

3 Cf. Paulin Paris, Memoires de VAcad. royale des Inscriptions et Belles-
lettres, second series, vi. p. 836 (1841). See, too, the dissertations of
MM. Le Foullon, Molinier, and A. Froment (1887), at the Ecole des
Chartes, and also the work of M. N. Jorga in the Bibl. de I'Ecole des
Hautes hude,s (1896). I defended the same opinion in the Revue des
Sciences ecclesiastiques in 1887.

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

the BoUandists call him " a great servant of God '*
and the " most devout of Parisians," it is because he
composed other works much worthier of praise.^
Amongst them we may specially note The Old Pilgrim's
Dream.^

In this rather discursive allegory, the old crusader
shows himself the implacable enemy of Urban and the
Romans. He exhorts Charles VI. to fall upon the
Urbanists, as he has already done in Flanders, where
he has just crushed Arteveld and the people of Ghent,
who were partisans of the Pope of Rome. The King
only showed himself too ready to follow this warlike
advice, and to invade Italy " by force of arms in order
to destroy all obstinate rebels."^ Six years later on
Philip retiu-ns to the charge, and supports the same
mihtary proposals, attacking afresh " the bad priests
who would rule, but not according to God." *

The same warlike language creates some surprise
when it proceeds from the prelatical pen of Robert
Gervais, Bishop of Senez. He too is an adversary
of the Roman Pontiff, whom he acknowledges that he
does not know, but whom he nevertheless calumniates.
He also is a declared enemy of the Italian canonists,
whom he had not read at all, but whom he exerts him-
self to refute. He would have active measures taken,
and force the recalcitrant Urbanists manu militari

^ Acta Sanctorum Julii, i. p. 456 and 482.

2 This work was finished about the end of 1889. (MS. at the Bibl. de
I'Arsenal, 2682; at the Bibl. Nat. 9200 and 22,542; at the Vienna
Library, 2251).

3 Cf. JoRGA, op. cit., p. 466.

^ Lettre de Charles VI. a Richard 11. This letter is in MS. at the British
Museum (Royal B. 4). Of. Froissart, xv. p. 376 ; xvi. p. 274. Jarry,
La '' voie defait" et V alliance f ranco-milanaise , Bibl. de Pficole de Chartes,
1892, iii. p. 225.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

to bow to the supreme power of the Pontiff of
Avignon.^

It would carry us too far and be too tedious to quote
extracts from all the printed or unpubHshed pamphlets
that appeared at the end of the fourteenth century.-

The Schism was at this time the constant anxiety
and the poignant grief of all the higher minds. Each
writer has his panacea and sets forth his solution.
Each, too, contributes his style, his type of mind, and
his inborn or acquired prejudices.

§ 4. Local Councils in each Obedience,

And yet all these writers, however opposed to one
another in opinion and in the means they would employ
for making their view prevail, are in agreement on two
points : the greatness of the evils under which the
Church labom-s, and the increasingly recognised neces-
sity for a single authority capable of inspiring con-
fidence and respect in all.

1 His work is entitled Myrrha electa. It is a perfume for dispersing
*' the. stinking exhalations resulting from the putrefaction of the Schism."
Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat., 1467. It was written about 1388. Cf. Valois, i.
p. 375. La via facti was almost unanimously censured later on. Cf.
Jarry, Bibl. de I'ficole des Chartes, iii. p. 10. Denifle, Chartul, iii. pp.
594, 598, 614.

2 Cf. John de Jenzenstein, Archbishop of Prague, Liber de consideratione
scriptus ad Urhanum Papam VI. (unpublished), Bibl. Nat. 1122, f. 434 ;
Compendio di dottr. eccles., of Giovanni delle Cei.le (Bologna, 1861);
Concilium super schismate, by Nicholas of Bitonto (Bibl. Vat. 4192) ;
Dialogus de tollendo schismate, by John of Spoleto (MS. Bibl. Vat.) ; Com-
plainte de fEglise, by John Petit, 1392. Peter de Luna, cf. Grille, vii.
p. 515. Peter Bohier, Bishop of Orvieto, Tractatus compositus tempore
hiijus scismatis (1379), Bibl. Nat. 14,643. John de Montson, Tractatus
informatorius de electione papae (1389), Bibl. Nat. 1466. Honor^
Bonnet, Somnium super materia scismatis (1394), published by Vaix)is in
the Annuaire de la Societe de France j t. xxvii. p. 193. Gerard Groot,
De schismate (Denifle, Chartul., t. iii. p. 589).

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

Moreover, all the faithful and their pastors felt the
need of assembling to find a remedy for the evils of
the Chm-ch, and at times, in order to secure the triumph
of their convictions as to the great question in dispute,
" Which was the true Pope ? "

As, for the time at any rate, they could not convoke
the assembly of the General Council which most of them
desired, they set themselves to work to summon local
assembUes or great national councils of the clergy,
almost everywhere.

In Castile, the Archbishop of Toledo had gathered
aU the bishops of the kingdom at lUescas in 1378.
Any final decision was postponed, although the presi-
dent had energetically defended Urban's cause.^

A second council was held at Burgos. Delegates
were sent to Avignon, and then to Italy, to complete
the inquiry and to enhghten the consciences of the
prelates, who listened to sixty- three contradictory
depositions (1380).^ They gave a report on their
mission at a third meeting at Medina del Campo.
Finally, after a number of tergiversations and discus-
sions, the result was proclaimed at Salamanca on May
19, 1381. Spain followed the example of France and
swore allegiance to Clement. Did not King Henry
of Trastamare and his son John owe their throne to
the intervention of Charles V. and to the sword of
DuguescHn ? ^

In Aragon, a local council was held at Barcelona,
August 31, 1379, and perhaps at Calatayud in September.
After an investigation made in 1386, this country too
acknowledged the authority of Clement.* In Navarre,
the clergy, the learned, and the lawyers met at Pam-

1 Valois, i. p. 201. Cf. Raynald, a. 1379, No. 5.
2 Valois, i. p. 209. 3 26fd.^ ii. p. 202. * Ibid., p. 213.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

peluna in 1S90, and the result was also favourable to
the Pope of Avignon.^

In the centre of Europe, these conciliar meetings
end in quite a different way, for Urban triumphs
everywhere.

At Prague, the University declares for Rome, and
the Bohemian students quit the University of Paris
in a body ; the synods of the clergy, and specially the
one held at Prague in 1S81, confirm the people in their
allegiance to Urban.

In Hungary, particular councils also maintain the
cause of the Roman Pontiff. King Louis even decides
to break with the French schismatics, and he has the
extreme audacity of sending an embassy to Paris to
announce his decision to his relation, the young King
Charles VI. The Duke of Anjou undertakes to make
the answer ; by good words and presents he succeeds
in calming the fiery Hungarians and in keeping peace
between the two kingdoms.^

Poland incessantly furnishes fresh proofs of loyalty
to the Roman Pope ; and Austria rallies to his cause
after Duke Leopold has found his death on the battle-
field of Sempach (1386).^

In Germany, the diets of Nuremberg (1S78-81)
and Frankfort (1379) end in formal declarations on
Urban's side. Like the Hungarians, the Germans
send ambassadors to Paris to Charles VL, and all
together they beg the King of France to unite with
them in defending the Roman Pontiff, the true Pope.

We have already described the situation in Flanders,
drawn in contrary directions by the Clementine bishops,
and by the ordinary clergy who kept the Count and the

1 Valois, p. 216. ^ Ibid., ii. p. 274.

3 Ibid., p. 305 ; Chronic. Karoli VI., i. pp. 72-80.

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

faithful in Urban's party. The indefatigable Cardinal
Guy de Malesset had undertaken to win over this
country to Clement's cause, and had arrived at Tournai
in 1S79. Louis de Maele would not allow him to enter
his domains, and obliged him to go back to Cambrai.
With the protection of the Clementine bishop, John
T. Serclaes, Malesset persisted in wishing to force his
entrance into Flemish territory.

Hear Froissart : "He wanted to go into Flanders
to speak to the count and his country, but never went
there, for the count had him told that nothing was
to be done there for this cause, for he held that Urban
was Pope, and would always hold him to be so, and
would live and die in this state of mind." '

How were the obstinate Flemish to be converted
to Clement's cause ? The cardinal thought that a
council would have some influence over these pre-
judiced minds, and he summoned them to meet at
Cambrai in 1S79. There he gave his own version of
the disturbed election of Urban, and of the scenes
at Fondi. This account cannot have differed widely
from the tale he had told the King, clergy, and nobles
at the meeting of Bois-de-Vincennes some time pre-
viously, nor from that which he related afterwards
to the ambassadors of the King of Aragon.-

Next year we find him on the lookout at his usual
post on the borders of Flanders. With more per-

1 Froissart, xvi. pp. 147 and 520.

2 In this important document^ the cardinal complains much of his want
of memory and repeats ten times : Non recordor, non stat in memoria mea,
nescio. But he is obliged to acknowledge that he asked Urban for
favours, and that he offered the latter presents, before the cardinals had
left, at Anagni and Fondi. If the priests at the Synod of Cambrai
objected these circumstances against him, they must have caused Guy de
Malesset much embarrassment. Cf. Gayet, ii. Pieces justif., p. 97 if.,
Bibl. de VEcole des Charles (1896), p. 140.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

severance than success, he is ever on the watch for the
moment when he will be able to enter the country.
On the first of October 1S80 he held a new local council
at Cambrai, and made a speech at it. We have the
text 1 before us, and give a rapid analysis of its contents.

The first point brands certain abuses which hinder
the recognition of the truth. They are due to
Bartholomew's preachers and envoys, whose malice
must be exposed. Guy then indirectly attacks the
Count of Flanders. " Some," he says, " will not
hear the upholders of both parties. This has many
disadvantages. Truth is hidden, error is introduced,
law is despised, God is offended, neighbours are
scandalised, suspicion makes its way, division is in-
creased, and civil friendship, which should reign
amongst men, disappears. You bring the objection :
but Clement's supporters are excommunicate, they
are not in the true faith, but are schismatics to be
avoided. I reply : That is no reason for refusing to
listen to us. Do you act thus with regard to infidels ?
Do you avoid holding intercourse with them ? What
have you to fear from free discussion, if you are con-
vinced of the lawfulness of Bartholomew ?

" In this procedure there is a threefold error.
You refuse to listen to those who alone know the facts,
and you hearken to the Cardinal of Ravenna (Pileo
de Prata) only, who was away from Rome, and
happened to be in Flanders at the time of Urban's
election.

" You are loath to admit the evidence of those
who are above all suspicion, and you give credence
to suspicious testimony, coming from persons on
whom Bartholomew has lavished his favours.

1 Bibl. Nat., MS. Lat. 15,561, f. 102.

THE DIVISION OF SOULS

" Lastly, you believe men whose witness is suspected
and lying and often varying. On the other hand,
Clement's cardinals have always repeated the same
truth, to wit, that Urban's election was extorted from
them by fear. Why, then, am I refused a reception
in Flanders ? Why insult him whom you will not
hear ? Why preserve an awkward silence in yom"
relations with him ? "

In his second point, the cardinal lays down three
conclusions : 1st, Bartholomew's election was made
under the influence of fear. The cardinals were put
in this dilemma : either to die, or to satisfy the wishes
of the rebellious Romans. 2nd, This election by the
Sacred College gives Bartholomew no legal right. 3rd,
Nothing that followed could legitimise the election.

Lastly, Guy de Malesset answers certain objections
made with regard to the conduct of the cardinals after
Urban's election, and sets himself, though without
much success, to exculpate them. He concludes with
a pathetic appeal for peace, for holding to the faith
in its integrity, for the edification and extension |of
the body of the Church.

Such, stripped of its too dry construction, and of
its numberless divisions, is the sermon preached by
the Clementine cardinal, and hitherto but little known.
It is not merely an isolated performance having only
to do with Flanders : but it gives an accurate idea
of the state of mind of the envoys of the Avignon
Pope and of the opinions they set forth in the councils
of the period. By way either of objection or answer
it sums up the reasons of the two parties which then
divided France and the entire Christian world.

It is clear that it is never a question of race-division,
which would place on one side the Latin, and on the
G 97

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

other the Germanic nations.^ Nor is it exclusively
a matter of French supremacy accepted on the one side
and disputed or rejected on the other.^ On the other
hand, it would quite alter the nature of the conflict
to put it down to a profane rivalry between the Sacred
College and the Papacy.^ The problem is of a still
graver character, more perplexing and more profound :
for it is the unity of the Church that is at stake. It
is a question that everywhere disturbs the Christian
conscience to its most secret intricacies. Neither the
saints, nor doctors of law and divinity, nor particular
councils could provide a solution acceptable to all,
and everywhere the Schism continues its deplorable
ravages.

^ Hofler has maintained this singular view, Anna von Luxembourg,
p. 110.

"^ Cf. GoTTLOBj Karls VI. private und politische Beziehungen zu Frankreich,
p. 128. Valois, i. p. 302.

3 Souchon's opinion. Cf. Die Papstwahlen von Bonifaz VIII. bis Urban
VI. und die Entstehung des Schismas (Braunschweig), 1898.

CHAPTER V

THE DEATH OF URBAN VI.

§ 1. The Death of the King of France

Charles V. was forty-three when he found himself
attacked by a disease from which he never recovered.
It was sixteen years since he had ascended the throne
of France, and he had undertaken the part of dressing
the bleeding wounds of his country, wounds of honour
and in finance, wounds of cruel defeat and foreign
invasion, wounds of material ruin and material loss.
Thanks to his long and skilful efforts, the kingdom
was on the point of recovering its natural frontiers,
and had regained almost all its provinces. It had
resumed its secular rank in the midst of Christendom.

Froissart has well passed judgment on this " sturdily
wise and clever prince, who made a fine show of these
quahties as long as he Hved. Staying at home in his
own grounds, he regained all that his predecessor had
lost in war, armed with helmet and sword." ^

From the political point of view, this pacific king
had succeeded almost everywhere in whatever he had
taken in hand for the restoration of the country. But
in his ecclesiastical relations he had been less fortunate.
He felt it, and perhaps this check had much to do with
hastening his end.

The scene of Charles V.'s last moments has been

' Froissart^ ix. p. 123.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

admirably described by Philip de Maizieres : it is
one of the finest in our history. His last days are
passed at the castle of Beaute, near Paris. His friends
and councillors are gathered around him. "Thank
you for having come at this last moment," says he.
" All of you who are present know what the cardinals
have done. You have read their reports. I have
followed their advice, and beheved that I was thus
acting with the greatest safety. I beheved then, and
I still firmly beheve, that Clement VII. is the true
pastor of the faithful. No temporal or ahen considera-
tion influenced my choice. Further, I appeal to the
General Council which should settle the question. May
God not count it to me for blame, if I shall have done
anything contrary to this future decision of the
Church ! " ' (September 16, 1S80.)

This ecclesiastical last will of Charles V. gives the
summing up of his work, the true note of his inter-
vention in the religious dispute. The King lays his
conscience as bare to history as to the chiefs of his
people. He believes that his judgment was not
mistaken. And yet, may not the objurgations of
Peter of Aragon and of Catherine of Siena have
had some effect upon his mind? And may not,
perhaps, the letters and offers of Urban, as well as
the avowed tendencies of Clement, have suggested to
him some tardy doubts? The monarch appeals to
the decision of the supreme tribunal and accepts it
in advance.

Thus do all the estimates made by foreign writers
as to the role of Charles V., amidst these deplorable

1 C!/\ Haurkau, Xotices et extrait.s de qq. MSS. latins de la Bibl. Nat, i.
p. 340. This account, first published by Haureau, was the basis of what
is to be found in Christine de Pimn, which is incomplete.

100

THE DEATH OF URBAN VI.

misunderstandings, fall to the ground. He did not
allow himself to be guided purely by political con-
siderations, by anxiety for French influence, and still
less by a desire to subjugate the Papacy and to be,
not only bishop-without, but Pope-within the Church.
Charles had nothing of the fiery astuteness of Philip-
le-Bel, nor had he the heroically saintly soul of Louis
IX. His action was that of a Christian king, who
lets himself be guided by conscientious motives, but
who nevertheless rejoices to find that his political
interests are in accord with what be believes to be
the good of the Church. If the King was not in the
good path, at least he was in good faith.

§ 2. Events in Italy and Flanders,

His son, who succeeded him as Charles VI., did not
bring to the great dispute either the same breadth
of view, or the same discretion in practice, or the same
continuity.

The Duke of Anjou, regent of France, had special
reasons for protecting Clement. Ilis ambition,
assisted by great political and military talents, sought
a crown. As he could not aspire to that of France,
he at one time wished to acquire that of Minorca.
Now he claimed a throne in Italy, and reckoned on
the Avignon Pope to help him in his hazardous design.

In 1379, Clement had already given him the title
of a vassal-king of the Holy See. He had permitted
him to carve himself a kingdom out of the Papal States,
and because the provinces thus abandoned were along
the Adriatic Sea, he gave this territory the name of

101

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

the Kingdom of Adria} Further, the French Pope
entered into negotiations with Jane of Naples, who
had no children, to adopt the Duke of Anjou as her
son.

As a military expedition was bound to result from
these proposals, Clement hoped that this would be
a means of making the whole of the peninsula acknow-
ledge his authority. This was the " path of action."

As a matter of fact, the campaign was undertaken
at the beginning of 1S82, but did not have the issue
that the Pope of Avignon hoped for. He had, how-
ever, put the apostolic revenues at the service of the
future King of Naples, and the latter had come down
from the Alps at the head of one of the most brilliant
French armies that had ever invaded the peninsula.

Like many other expeditions that have had Italy
for their stage, this enterprise, so boldly begun, ended
badly. Louis of Anjou met with an inglorious death,
and his army melted in the sun, and the remainder
was scattered, and the Avignon obedience gained no
increase. A little afterwards, Clement deluded him-
self with the hope that the campaign against rebel
Ghent, undertaken by Charles VI., would finally subdue
the obstinate Flemish and bring them back to him.
The King had hoisted the oriflamme because the
Flemish were supporters of Urban and therefore
schismatics. On his side, Philip van Artevelde re-
turned the same compliment to the French, as being
fomenters of the Schism.^

It was apparently a religious war. The striking

' DuRRiEU, Le royaume dJ Adriu, Revue den queation.s historiques , tfuly 1,
1B80. Jarry, La "vote de fait" et talliuncefrunco-mUanaise, Bibl, de
TEcole des Chartes (1892), p. 215.

- J. Meyer, Annates rerum Flandricarum, lib. xiii. p. 181).

102

THE DEATH OF URBAN VI.

victory of Roosebeke confirmed Clement in his con-
fidence, specially when he saw the young King demand
from the vanquished the recognition of the Avignon
obedience. Further, next year, a descent of the
English, who were Urban's supporters, on the terri-
tories of Flanders was a failure.^

Another event contributed to increase his hopes.
Louis de Maele, Count of Flanders, had hardly been
restored by the French army before he fell ill in January
1384, and died on the 30th of the month at the Abbey
of St Bertin. He had been, it will be remembered,
one of the most energetic defenders of Urban. The
solemn funeral took place at Lille on March L He
left an only daughter, Margaret of Flanders, who
brought a rich inheritance to her husband, Philip
the Hardy, Duke of Burgundy, and uncle of the King
of France.

PhiHp had already taken possession of Lille, and
the new count was by family ties attached to the
Pope of Avignon. What was Flanders to do ? The
chapter of St Peter's was the first to submit, and on
the very day of the funeral, four delegate canons placed
their renunciation of Urban's obedience in the hands
of the Bishop of Tournai, Peter d'Auxy, in the pres-
ence of the Archbishop of Reims and of the Bishop
of Cambrai, John T' Serclaes."

It was a great point to score, but the conquest of
Flanders had yet to be won. Whatever may have
been said to the contrary,'^ Philip the Hardy never
consented to direct a violent persecution against the

^ Walshingham, Historia Anglicana, ii. p. 88. Meyer, p. 104.
G. MoNTEuis, Le siege de Bourhourg, 1895 (Lille, Taffin).

2 M^r. Hautc(eur, Histoire de Peglise collegiale et du chapitre de Saint-
Pierre de Lille, ii. 97-

3 Meyer, loc. cit. Kervyn de Lettenhove, Hist, de Flandre, iv.

103

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Urbanists who were so numerous in his new states.
He tried gentle means : the first method was the
assemblage of a synod, which he presided over at
Lille himself, on September 27, 1384, and the
following days.^ Deputies from the University of
Paris were present and their names have been pre-
served. They were Guy Custelli, sent by the nation
of Picardy ; John Raulet de Roncourt, Canon of Meaux,
sent by the French nation; and John d'Aramon, re-
presenting the faculty of Law. The last made the
meeting a long speech, which has been recently re-
covered in the Barberini Library at Rome.^

We spare oiu" readers the text of this technical
argument, bristling with juridical quotations and re-

^ No special compilation and not a single history had spoken till lately
of this synod of Lille. I was put on its track by a passage of P. d'Ailly,
which occurs in a MS. of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and which
Tschackert published fragmentarily in 1877- Peter von Ailli, App. vii.
p. 24.

Peter d'Ailly had been delegated by the University of Paris to maintain
an important suit against John Blanchard, Canon of Cambrai, Chaplain to
the Pope, and Chancellor of the University. ITiis cause had been taken
before Clement VII. at Avignon in 1385, and the future Cardinal of
Cambrai had opened his case. In the course of his argument he expressed
himself thus : " Universitas Parisiensis declarationem seu adhaesionem
suam sanctam et justam per diversas mundi partes publicavit, et, quod in
recenti memoria est, nunc etiam proprios dejmtatos solemnes ad sedationem
scismatis in Flandriam delegavit."

I had further found in the Histoire de I' Universite de Paris (Du Boujlay,
iv. p. 003), and later in Deniflk {Chartularium, iii. pp. 332 and 501), the
delegates' names, but I believed that the provincial council had not taken
place, because no traces of it are to be found in the departmental archives
of the North, which are otherwise so full. 1 confess 1 was mistaken {Cf.
Petrus de Alliaeo, p. 28).

'^ To M. Noel Valois I owe the knowledge of this MS., which is so
valuable alike for the history of the Church and for our local annals.
M. I'Abbe E. Bonduel was good enough to copy this interesting docu-
ment for me, and I have published it in the Revue des sciences eccles.
(February 1902), and then in Two Unknown Councils of Cambrai and Lille.
Cf. Valois, ii. p. 257.

104

THE DEATH OF URBAN VI.

ferences. This sermon, composed in the style of the
period, would teach nothing to those who have read
the account of the election as we have given it. Suffice
it to say that John d'Aramon, with a great array of
quotations, sets himself to prove that the cardinals
chose Urban under the influence of fear, that the
election was null, and that the subsequent acts of the
electors could neither make valid nor add confirma-
tion to an election which was invalid from the outset.
We heard Guy de Malesset maintain the same pro-
position at Cambrai without success.^

As has been seen, the eloquence and the quotations
of John d'Aramon apparently did not produce any
immediate effect on the tenacious convictions of the
out and out Flemish.

In the 3^ears that followed, a few Flemish towns
recognised Clement, thanks to the personal influence
of Philip and the touching exhortations of Margaret
of Flanders ; but this recognition was never quite
sincere nor general.^ Consciences were profoundly
troubled in this land of living faith and powerful
energy. The Urbanists of Bruges refused to hear
mass said by Clementine priests. They made their
Easter communion at Ghent so as not to communi-
cate in divinis with schismatics.^ Urban's partisans
and Clement's had no more relations with each other
than formerly the Jews had with the Samaritans,
according to a later Flemish historian, James Meyer.'*

' See last chapter, p. 90.

'^ Valois, ii. p. 268.

^ Chronica Joaniiis Brandon, monachi Dunensis (1391), a work recently
brought out (1870) by Kervyn de Lettbnhove, p. 20. Bourgeois du
(^HASTENET, NouvcUe kiMoive du concile de Constance, p. 140.

* Annales rerum Flandrkarum, xiii. p. 210.

105

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

§ 2. The Death of Urban VI. and the Accession of
Boniface IX,

In almost all parts of his jurisdiction the Pope of
Rome could see these divisions and note partial de-
fections. Urban, for some years before his death,
had no more cruel enemy of his cause than himself.
Strange and sad was the history of this Pope, so edify-
ing before he was crowned with the tiara, but after-
wards so extravagant to the point of cruelty through
inconsistencies and mistakes.

Things came to such a pass that the cardinals con-
trived a plot, either to put him under ward, or else
to give him into the hands of Charles de Duras, who
had just issued as the successful competitor of Louis
of Anjou for the throne of Naples.

Urban was informed of these designs and prosecuted
the authors with cruelty. Thierry de Niem gives
details of the punishments he inflicted upon them.
They are such that we can scarcely believe his story,
circumstantial as it is.^ Either the chronicler makes
use of exaggeration and calumny, or else Urban's
reason was exceedingly shaken.

The Pope, besieged by the King of Naples at Nocera,
succeeded in escaping, everywhere dragging along
with him the pain without the glory of martyrdom,
and took off the five cardinals as prisoners. At Genoa
he got rid of them, and their manner of death, which
has been hitherto almost unknown, has given rise to
the most sinister conjectures.-

^ De scismate libri tres, lib. i. 45 and 50.

'^ Ibid., 60. Cf. DoLLiNGER, Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte , ii. p. 282.
Baluze, Vitae Paparum Avenion, i. p. 518. See also the Chronicles of
John de Mussis, Minerbetti, and Gobelinus Persona, who relate the same

106

THE DEATH OF URBAN VI.

The other cardinals, terrified by this example, de-
serted him, and thought it their duty to make his
conduct known. While his mercenaries were de-
vastating the patrimony of St Peter and spreading
terror there, Urban saw his authority set at nought
in Tuscany and in the Romagnas. His party was
everywhere falling to pieces, and Rome itself ceased
to be faithful to him.

These manifold desertions and the mournful presage
they might suggest to Urban finally shattered the
old man's health, a martyr without any grandeur.
On October 15, 1389, he died in the Vatican palace,
which, eleven years before, had been the stage of the
tumultuous scenes of his election.

From that time it was natural to hope that his
discredited party would end with him, that all the
cardinals would unite, and unanimously submit to
Clement VII., thus restoring peace to the Church.

Had such not been their intention, might not the
princes and nations have brought pressure to bear
upon the fourteen cardinals of Urban who had met
at Rome, to constrain them to rally to the authority
of Clement ? Alas ! before the kings had time to get
news of the almost sudden death of Urban, a successor
had already been appointed in the person of the
Cardinal of Naples, Peter Thomacelli (November %
1389). He took the name of Boniface IX., and all
hope of seeing the end of the Schism disappeared, at

facts. I give no credence to the details^ full of improbable cruelty,
supplied by Andrew Gatarus in Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores,
xvii. p. 480. Read the interesting documents in Sauerland {HuL
Jahrbuch, 189:3, p. 820-832). They are supplied by certain cardinals
nominated by Urban, but who became his enemies. The versatile Pileo
de Prata is among them. Their aim is to stir up public opinion against
the Pope.

1(37

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

least for the moment. The same deplorable blunders
recommenced. Clement VH. excommunicated the
newly-elect, and he, on his side, reiterated all the
condemnations inflicted by Urban on the Pope of
Avignon.

The latter had no reason to congratulate himself
on the change of Pontiff at Rome, for Boniface was
as popular as his predecessor had been the reverse.
KindHness and affability replaced severity and in-
consistency on the Pontifical throne. In a few months
the new Pontiff regained the ground lost by Urban
in the affections of nations and kings.^ Although
the Romans began by revolting against him, he soon
succeeded in repairing the castle of St Angelo and
the Vatican, and restored the authority that had been
momentarily compromised in the centre of the penin-
sula, and, in the jubilee of 1390, found a way of raising
the moral prestige of the Roman Papacy at the same
time as he increased its material resources.- The
two obediences found themselves of equal power.
The two competitors had less intention than ever of
yielding, and the religious crisis was perpetuated in
all the States of Christendom.

' Raynaij), a. 1390, No. 15 ; a. i. 392, Nos. 1-6 ; a. 1393, No. 17 ; a.
1396, Nos. 1 and 4. Boniface IX.' s letter to the King of France, Bibl. de
Cambrai, MS. 940, f. 67.

2 John Guiraud, V£tat pontifical apres le grand Schisme, p. 11.

108

CHAPTER VI

ANARCHY IN DOCTRINE

§ 1. The Forerunners,

The ever-increasing trouble at the heart of all the
kingdoms of Christendom also produced disastrous
results on people's minds. Whenever respect for
spiritual authority decreases, intellectual and moral
disorders creep in more easily and last longer, to the
great detriment of souls.

At the end of the fourteenth century there is an
increase and " redundancy in the number of hot, bitter,
and quarrelsome heads," of which St Francis of Sales
was to complain later on.

Nearly all the errors about the hierarchy, since con-
demned by the Church, were born or developed during
this lamentable period. In many minds they upset
the true idea of the Papacy and the Councils, and they
often caused misunderstandings as to the necessarily
subordinate position of the clergy and faithful laity
with regard to authority.

To-day, thanks above all to the solemn decisions of
the Vatican, everyone knows that the Pope is in the
midst of the Church as an infaUible doctor for teaching
and as a sovereign monarch for government. It is he
who, in virtue of his universal authority, summonses,
presides over, and confirms general councils. In-
faUible when they are with the Pope, they cannot be
so either without him or against him. The Pope is

109

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

their only Head, and in a living organism like the
Church, the head cannot be separated from the body
which it animates and rules. On the other hand, the
priests and simple laity are no part of the Church as
a teaching body, nor can they be granted a share in
its government. Their part is to be subject in mind
and conduct to the hierarchical chiefs who have been
divinely appointed. Whatever may have been the
ideas of those who have looked upon the ecclesiastical
body as a humanly constituted society, the Church
is a pure and absolute monarchy, and cannot be re-
garded as an aristocracy, still less as a democracy.

Before dealing with a labyrinth of errors, it is im-
portant to recall these primary truths, which certain
Christians of the middle age ignored, and which certain
modern Catholics have failed to recognise.

As a matter of fact, the supremacy of the Papacy
over Catholic royalties, and its social jurisdiction had
been entirely denied by Philip le Bel at the beginning
of the fourteenth century, and the brutalities of Anagni
had only been the first and coarse manifestation of
this revolt. At the period we have reached, the rebels
go further : it is the internal jurisdiction of the sovereign
Pontiif, it is his governmental authority, that they
dispute ; their attack is principally directed against
liis prerogative of infallible judge in matters of con-
troversy. Moreover, erroneous opinions swarm, especi-
ally in the Universities. Side by side with professors
who teach the whole truth, " the irrefragable word,"
the human but faithful echo of the divine utterances,
there are others whose ignorance, temerity, and incon-
sistency are in the ascendant. It is a chaos of opinions,
a very Babel. At Paris, the audacious Occam has
more disciples than the learned brother Thomas or

110

ANARCHY IN DOCTRINE

the pious brother Bonaventure have ever had. Theo-
logical hypotheses stray off to the utmost limits of
absurdity, and even go beyond them at times.

To judge of the doctrinal disorder that then had
sway over certain minds, it is enough to reproduce
the questions that are asked in the schools about
dogmas, which are the indisputable foundations of
our faith. I will set forth a few, which will show the
state of mind of those who had to guide the Christian
society in the midst of the confusion caused by the
election at Fondi.

" Is the Pope really necessary ? Did our Lord build
his Church on Christ or on Peter ? ^ Or should, perhaps,
the foundation be sought in Holy Scripture ? If it was
built on the Roman Pontiff, will it not be based on an
unstable and perishable foundation ? "

Such are the theological problems discussed by d'Ailly
in one of his earhest writings, finished just when he
was leaving the theological schools of Paris,^ and the
unexpected election of Clement VII. was beginning
the Schism. " The jurisdiction of bishops and priests
flows from Christ and not from the Pope : the Roman
Pontiff is the head of the Church in the sense of being
her principal minister : ministerialiter exercens, ad-
ministratione dispensans " ; and later on he adds,=^ " The
subordination of the Church to the Pope is merely

1 " Quis enim in Petri infirmitate Ecclesiae firmitatem stabiliat ? " John
Huss uses the same language in his treatise on the Church. Hefele,
History of the Councils, x. p. 357-

2 Recommendatio Sacrae Scripturae, a treatise written in 1380. In the
0pp. Gersonii (Ed. EUies-Dupin), i. col. 604.

3 Be Ecdesia, Cone. Gen. et Sum. Pontijicis auctoritate, Ibid., ii. col. 928
and 951. Zabarella says on his side : '' Potestas est in universitate^
tanquam in fundamento, et in Papa tanquam in principali ministro." Cf.
ScHEUFFGENj Beitvlige zu der Gesch. des grossen Schismas, p. 114. Cf. the
Bull, Auctoremfidei, pr. 8.

Ill

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

accidental." ^ " The Church universal alone is in-
f alHble ; - every particular Church can err, the Church
of Rome like the rest. The Sovereign Pontiff is not
necessarily the Roman Pontiff, for the primacy formerly
passed from the see of Antioch to that of Rome.'* The
Pope may err, and, as a matter of fact, has been mis-
taken more than once,^ beginning with St Peter when
he was rebuked by St Paul," d'Ailly continues.^ The
Pontiff may even become a heretic.^

In all cases where the faith is concerned, the Pope
is subject to the General Council,' which can judge and
condemn his teaching. It has even the right to pass
judgment on his conduct and to depose him if he shows
himself obstinate and is considered incorrigible.

^ De Ecclesia, Cojic. Gen., col. 958.

^ Ibid., col. 953.

3 Ibid., i. col. 668, 690, 691.

* Ibid., ii. col. 949, 959. " Papa est deviabilis,'' says Gerson, i. p. 8.

^ See ray Fetra.s de Alliaco, p. 249 (1886). This hypothesis of papal
fallibility, of a purely hypothetical character, is found as an indiscreet
conjecture put forward by certain ancient schoolmen. Gerson himself
acknowledges that his teaching is new {De pot. eccL, cons. xii. t. ii.
p. 247). Still, a good number of doctors of this period admit its possi-
bility at any rate. Here is the idea of Simon of Cramaud, patriarch of
Alexandria, writing to the King of the Romans : '^ If the Pope scandalises
the Church, he must be disobeyed : those who submit to him in such a
case are guilty of mortal sin. To judge such a Pontiff, two or three
judges suffice. He must be condemned irrevocably, like Lucifer of yore.
. . . When the Pope falls into an already proscribed heresy, a new
sentence is unnecessary, for he deserves less respect than any other
Catholic." This text, which has been unpublished until latterly, dates
from 1414. It has been publislied by Finke, Acta Voncilii Constancienaiit ,
(1896), i. p. 281.

^ 0pp. Gerson., i. col. 689. JJe materia. Cone. Gen., MS. in Bibl. Nat.
Paris, fonds latin. No. 1571, p. 24. (ierson and Nicholas of Cusa are
also of this opinion, with a good number of theologians of the period.
Gerson adds that, on this hypothesis, the Pope could lawfully be put in
chains, imprisoned, and even cast into the sea. 0pp. Gerson., ii. col. 221,
l>e auferibilitate Fapae ab Ecclesia.

7 Ibid., and 0pp. Gerson., ii. col. 951, 953, 959, 960. Hefele, x. 414.

112

ANARCHY IN DOCTRINE

This general synod, according to some theologians,
is infallible. It is only a pious belief,^ for, as a matter
of fact, several ancient councils have erred as to the
faith. The ecumenical synod, representing the uni-
versal Church, is above the Pope. D'Aillysets himself
to show this superiority by relying upon natural, divine,
and canon law.'^ But in his defence it must be said
that the dogma was much less explicit than it is to-day.

Such are the ideas that one of the most celebrated
divines of the period ventures to set forth, and his
influence was very considerable during all these events,
and, according to Bossuet,^ he often speaks for the
whole Faculty of Paris. Such opinions remind one
of those of the great and disastrous revolutionary
known as Occam. Up till the fourteenth century,
indeed, except among the schismatic Greeks, who
rejected the primacy itself, one does not meet with
this total denial of infallibility.

The Hussites, Protestants, and most audacious of
Galileans have hardly surpassed these Paris theologians
in their most erroneous negations, when they dispute
not only the limits, but even the origin of the rights
of the Pope. Of this system I will only note an affirma-
tion alleged and upheld at that time by more than
one doctor, and since then adopted by the Galilean

^ Opp. Gerson., ii. col. 958. " According- to some great doctors, a General
Council can err in facto, in jure, et quod magis est, in fide," says the
Cardinal of Cambrai, in the middle of the Council of Constance. Von der
HardTj Rerum cone, cecumen. Constant., ii. col. 201. D'Ailly had scarcely
finished his studies when he maintained this same opinion at Paris,
Utrum Petri Ecclesia rege guhernetur. . . . Opp. Gerson. , i. col. 689. Like
Bossuet, the Bishop of Cambria never wavered upon this point. But what
is a pious opinion when contradicted by facts } Of. Bouix, De Papa, i.
p. 472.

2i6iU,col. 956.

^ Defensio declarationis cleri Gallicani, p. 11, lib. vi. c. 20.
H 113

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Church as her own : the General Council is superior
to the Pope,' whose place in the Church is simply a
primacy of honour.

Does this mean that, in a time of ecclesiastical calm,
the united bishops are superior to him who has to
preside over them, and that the latter holds his powers
from them, and, in a word, that the body is superior
to the head ? No, for the hypothesis would be absurd.

But the mischief of Gallicanism consists in taking
advantage of exceptional periods of disorder and schism,
and of the sometimes vexatious measures to which
they lead, in order to divide that which should be
united, in order to proclaim that the ecclesiastical
aristocracy is above its natural sovereign, that it has
the right to elect him, to deprive him of certain of his
prerogatives, to pass judgment upon him, and even
to depose him.

Doubtless the cardinals at Fondi had set a fatal
example. Through their action, disunion reigned at
this epoch in the Church. Doubtless the council,
that is to say, the general assembly of the bishops,
was perhaps the only way of finding a remedy for so
many evils, but the exception must never be made
into a rule, nor division be allowed as normal and
natural. A temporary expedient, contrived to put
an end to an accidental disorder, cannot become a
perpetual law and less still a dogma of faith.^

^ Th. de Niem, I)e modis uniendi, 0pp. (person., ii. col. 172 ff. This
treatise was long ascribed to Gerson and placed among his works^ but
Lenz and Finke thought Thierry de Niem was the author. Others, with
Schwab, Hartwig, and Sagmiiller {Hist. Jahrbuch, 1895, p. 5G2), think on
the other hand that this important work should be attributed to Andrew
Escobar, a Spanish Benedictine, who died Bishop of Megara in 1428.

^ "These ((iallican) doctrines will never be proclaimed except in troublous
times for the Church," writes Bossuet to Le Tellier, at the time of the
declaration of 3082. See chapter xv. of this work.

114

ANARCHY IN DOCTRINE

Yet this is what the imprudent theologians of Bale
and Constance will have the misfortune to bring about.
What I want to show is that theories of the superiority
of councils, now condemned, do not date from 1415
and the Council of Constance,^ and still less from their
codification drawn up in the four articles of 1682.

They were introduced into the Church by a certain
group of theologians who were lovers of novelty, and
they were invented and upheld from the end of the
fourteenth century even in the University itself. Paris
made Constance, or at any rate made it possible. At
certain very troublous periods, at the Council of Bale,
as at the meeting of 1682, these false and fatal declara-
tions, so inimical to the authority of the Roman Pontiff,
come to light again.

This Gallican doctrine is an " opinion that the Pope
endures and puts up with in spite of himself . . . held
by only a few, contrary to general opinion and every-
where else a subject for ridicule, as it is even in France
itself."

Such was the opinion of Peter de Marca, Archbishop
of Paris, twenty years before the famous declaration
of 1682.^

' Excellent theologians, like Ruard Tapper, Andrew Duval, Th.
Raynaud, Bannez, Ballerini, etc. . . . profess the opposite opinion, and
think that these doctrines were invented in their entirety at the time of
the holding of the council. I think they can be shown to be mistaken.
It would be easy to show, if it could be done without going outside of the
matter in hand, that all the errors of these troublous times were first
upheld in the bold discussions of the theological schools of Paris. Cf.
Haur^au, Notice mr (e No. 16,409 of the Latin MSS. of the Bihl. Nationale,
Paris, 189.5.

'^ A memorial requested from the Archbishop of Paris by the minister
Le Tellier (1662). It was long in manuscript at Saint Sulpice, then at the
Mazarin Library (2284) and at the Bibl. Nat. (17,614). M. Puyol gives
long extracts from it in his book, Edmond Ridwr, ii. p. 43o. (f. Bouix
De Papa, i. p. 566. '

115

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Nevertheless this schismatical view survived until
the Vatican Council, in spite of the opposition of almost
the whole Church, and in spite of the often repeated
anathemas of Sovereign Pontiffs.

§ 2. Democratic and Multitudinist Doctrines in the
Church.

The system we have just explained in accordance
with d'Ailly is quite aristocratic ; in fact it sets up the
predominance of bishops, of the ecclesiastical aristo-
cracy, and also of doctors of theology and canon law,
that is to say, a doctrinal or scientific aristocracy.^

The most celebrated disciple of the future Bishop of
Cambrai, the chancellor, John Gerson, goes further,
and maintains that parish priests have a definite voice
in councils as well as bishops.'^

The Council of Constance admits this doctrine.
Simple priests, and even certain laymen, are allowed
to sit there as judges. The conventicle of Bale goes
farther, and in its final schismatical throes, hardly
admits anyone beyond ecclesiastics "^ of the second
order, deliberating and disputing in utter anarchy.

1 VoN DER Hardt, ii. col. 224. See chapter xv. of this work.

'^ Gerson, De pot. ecclesiastica, consid. xii. t. ii. col. 240. Item, Senm
de privikgiis mendicantium , 0pp. Gerson., ii. col. 43(3. A Protestant writer
shows the relations existing hetween Gerson, Wicliffe, John Huss, and the
reformers. CJ. Arminius Jepp, Gerson, Wiclifus, Hmsus (Gottingen,
1857). Em. de Bonnechose, Les Reformateurs avant la Re/orme, Jean
Hus, Introd., p. 71.

3 At the 83rd session, which took grave decisions, there were only 20
prelates, whether bishops or abbots, and 400 other ecclesiastics. Copistarum
et paedagogorum grex, says the Archbishop of Milan ; coliuvies copistarum,
exclaims Patricius ; turba inconsulta et confusa, synagoga Satanae, remarks
iEneas Sylvius, the future Pius II., too long a supporter of the conventicle.
These democratic notions influence first J. Almain, J. Courtecuisse, A.
Tostat, and afterwards Saint-Cyran, Travers, Maultrot, and the schis-
matic authors of the Constitution civile du clergr.

116

ANARCHY IN DOCTRINE

Later on, the worst Galileans take up these doctrines.
Richer declares that simple priests are the necessary
judges in all dogmatic difficulties, and that they have
a deliberative and conclusive vote in virtue of their
sacerdotal character.^

This might be called the moderate democratic system.

Others, with Gerson, go lower still, and end in that
absolute or radical democracy known as multitudinism.

According to them, spiritual authority resides
entirely in the mystical body of the Church, which
communicates it to the Pope and to the bishops. This
system clearly corresponds with that of the democratic
origin of authority in politics. The heads of the two
societies of Church and State would only obtain their
authority from the people as an intermediary.^

If this opinion is defensible in politics, it cannot
be so in theology, for spiritual power comes from God
through the mission of His Son and the apostles, and
does not emanate from the people regarded either
as origin or as channel.

Gerson also maintains that the right of correcting
and even of deposing the Sovereign Pontiff belongs
to the entire community, and not only to the General
Council.^ " Every one of the faithful can demand
a hearing from the Council," he adds, " when the
question in dispute has to do with public authority

^ Defensio libelli de eccl. et politwa potestate, lib. iv. c. iii. (1701). Of.
PuYOL_, Edmond Richer, i. p. 444.

The heretical and schismatical synod of Pistoja (1786) renewed this
Gallican doctrine (the Bull, Auctorem fidei, pr. 9 and 10), and quite re-
cently the Old Catholics also apparently adopted this presbyterian error.
But it must not be confounded with the heresy of the Scotch Church,
which does not recognise the episcopate.

^ Auctorem jidei, pr. 2.

^ De auferihilitate Papae, consid. xii. t. ii. p. 216.

117

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

in the Church, faith and morals." ^ Occam, with still
greater temerity, asserted that even women should
not be excluded from a General Council.^

It is well known how Protestantism, and especially
Calvinism, took up these doctrines, and exaggerated
them in introducing them into its religious system.
" That is how the Reformation is preached," exclaims
Bossuet, " that is how Christendom is torn to pieces
and the way of Antichrist prepared." ^

Clearly, all the errors about the reformation and
hierarchical regime of the Church, about the power
of councils, about the pontifical monarchy, and about
the simple rights of priests, have their origin in theories
which find their source, their encouragement, and their
continuance in the Schism. The principal manifesta-
tions have been noted. It is hardly necessary to call
attention to the opinions of the energumens who
cry out : " After all, what does it matter about the
number of the Popes ? What does it matter whether
there are two, three, ten, or a dozen ? Every country
should have its own Pope. Is it not the divine will
that the Church should thus be divided for a time, or
even for ever, perchance ? In struggling against schism
for unity, are people not perhaps struggling against
God ? " '

Here again seems to be a reflection of the most
advanced of Occam's opinions, and another trace of
the subversive influence of this evil genius in theology.

^ Cf. Sermone.s in Vigilia Domini Palmaram , col. 20o (March 23^ 1415).
Of. Schwab, Johannes Gerson (Wiirzburg-, 1859), p. 507, note.

2 Dialogus, lib. vi. c. 85. Apud Goldast, Monarchia Sancti Romnni
Imperii, ii. p. .302.

^ Bossuet, Histoire de.s- Variation ff, xv. No. 121.

* Cf. Pastor, I/i.itoiir des Papcs, i. p. 192. The ririiversity puts forth
these scandalous and heretical propositions in its last letter to Clement
VII., July 17, 1394. Cf. DEMFr.E, Chartnlnrinm, iii. p. 638.

118

ANARCHY IN DOCTRINE

§ 8. Still more Extraordinary Opinions,

Is it possible to be more rash and to wander stiU
more imprudently away from the safe and beaten track ?
Does not a lower drop mean a fall into the midst of
the wretched herd of heretics and free-thinkers, whose
punishment we see and whose complaints are heard
in Dante's eighth circle of the Inferno ?

Several writers of the period seem to have had this
irreverent hardihood ; and, to be convinced of it, it
suffices to add to the already gloomy picture a few
more touches, equally true and still darker/

There are certain theologians who consider as prob-
able such propositions as these : " The Pope, the
bishops, and all the clergy at once may fall into error.
Only a few simple souls, a few poor lay-folk may pre-
serve the deposit of revelation. Thus it was, say they,
that, at the time of the Passion, the Blessed Virgin alone
kept the faith."

But, on such a hypothesis, what becomes of the
promised indefectibihty of the Church ? What becomes
of its visibiUty and hence of its influence and authority^?
What is this supernatural society without an orthodox
Pope, and without a faithful clergy ? What is this

1 D'Ailly himself relates all these hypotheses^ which he finds to be
plausible, in his treatise, Be Besumpta (1880) : Utrum Petri Eeclesia rege
guhernetur, lege reguletur , fide eonfirmetur , jure dominetur." 0pp. Gerson.,
i. col. 669, 689, 690. Occam, Dialogus, v. c. 1, 22, 28. Of. Bouix, De
Papa, i. p. 469. " Habemus Papam Christum, sufficit ut credamus in
eum." A proposition repeated by Gerson, De aufer., ii. col. 224:
'"^ Ecclesia non est aliud nisi conjunctio omnium existentium in charitate "
(soul of the Church). P. PiiAOUL apud Deniflb, iii. 552. This is the
invisible Church of the Jansenists— " We have no Pope, except God and
the Virgin our feminine Pope (papesse), and the Church is widowed." Cf.
Teret, La Faculte de theologie de Paris, iii. p. 208. J. de Varennes, in
Opp. Gerson., ii. 841 ff. Andrew d'Escobar, Gubernaculum Condi.,
etc.

119

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

temple devoid of doctrinal authority, and full of error
and ruin ? In these conditions, how could Christ
guarantee the perpetuity of His Church ?

These audacious innovators had discovered a reply
to this question. " In this case," said they, " God
would Himself ordain priests and bishops and super-
naturally make this extraordinary ordination known
to His Church. To deny the possibihty of such an
occurrence," they added, " was to dispute the omni-
potence of God."

It must be acknowledged that this is to claim too
extreme a liberty for the ridiculous. From such
gratuitous and scandalous propositions to Protestantism
there is but a single step, and that step will be taken.
These simple souls, who believe that they alone have
preserved the faith in its purity, have only to refuse
to obey the decrees of a General Council, to appeal
from them to another council, and to revolt openly.
This is exactly what was done later on by the first
reformers of 1517 : it was the triumph of free-thinking.
Still further, a foiu-teenth century theologian, who was
long supposed to be Gerson himself, dares to assert that,
on such an hypothesis, the council may be convoked
by the emperor or other princes, by private individuals,
by peasants, and even by some worthy female, minima
vetula.^

What confusion of thought and what perturbation
of mind is presupposed by the mere enunciation of
these subversive theories. Are we wrong in saying,
to begin with, that the Treatise on the Church did not

^ A treatise^ De modis uniendi Ecclesiam in concilio, composed either by
Thierry de Niem_, or by Andrew d' Escobar. Of. Anglican Prayerbook,
Article xxi.: '^ General Councils may not be gathered together without
the commandment and will of Princes." Agreed upon by convocation
holden at London, 1562.

120

ANARCHY IN DOCTRINE

exist, even in its most fundamental principles, for
these decadent and wrong-headed theologians.^

What an extraordinary and scandalous production
would result from summarising all the heteroclite
opinions of the School of this period ? A considerable
number are compressed into the works of Wicliffe,
whose heresy is the stepping-stone from the old
Waldensian errors to the Protestant revolution.

At this time are to be seen many of those " extreme
thinkers," spoken of by Bossuet, who are never weary
of inquiring, and discoursing, and discussing, and
whom St Gregory of Nazianz calls extravagant and
insatiable."^

The innovators of those days are far from wishing,
and even from perceiving, the logical consequences
of their first steps. Anti- doctrinal blasphemy has
always led, perhaps unconsciously, to all social disorders.
The blows which strike the Roman See shake every
throne, and, as has been said, a Luther in religion always
begets a Luther in politics.

So, then, all these theological heresies soon reverberate
in the social order, and Wicliffe will soon himself draw
the conclusions that follow from his premises. Only
read the incendiary propositions condemned by the
Pope,^ and then say if there is much between them and
preaching anarchy.

As a matter of fact, in England, from the beginning
of the Schism, the workman, Wat Tyler, and the
Franciscan, John Ball, both Wicliffites, raised mobs
by their fanatical preaching, and in 1381, twenty
thousand rebels boldly encamped at the gates of

1 Ch. i. p. 10.

^ Oraimn fanehre de N. Cornet.

^ HefelEj History of the Councils, x. p. 504.

121

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

London.^ Gregory XI., without condemning the here-
siarch, justly remarks : " These propositions are not
only erroneous as to faith, but their tendency is to
destroy all political institutions." -

It is well known how, later on, John Huss introduced
this permanent anarchy into Bohemia, when he set
up a democratic and socialist republic. This un-
fortunate country long bore the sanguinary traces of
the extraordinary disorders which accompanied his
anti-patriotic and anti-religious effort.

On another side, the Beghards and the Waldenses
were stirring up the whole of the east of Christendom
and were preaching every kind of revolution.

§ 4. The Prophecies of the Period.

In this troubled epoch, predictions spread on all
sides, announcing the coming of Antichrist preparatory
to the approaching end of the world. It was not the
first time that a similar phenomenon had occurred
amidst the crowd, which is always eager for the mar-
vellous. In every age, when an unusually grave
calamity fell upon the faithful, they raised their eyes
to heaven and waited in anxious dread the coming
of the terrible and final adversary of Jesus Christ.

In the days of the first persecutions, they thought
that Nero would rise from the dead and reappear in
the world to set up the worship of idols and to fulfil

^ (■/'. R^viLLK, Le souli-vemmU des travailleurs d' Angleterre en 1381
(PariSj Picard, 181)8). Trevelyax, England of the Age of Wycliffe, in the
English Historical Review. An English Wyclif Society is engaged in bring-
ing out all the works of the heresiarch, who also composed a work on the
Antichrist. It is his last production. Of. Revue historique, xlv. (1891),
p. 460 (1891), and Ixxii. p. 460(1809). J. Lingard, History of England,
iv. eh. iii. (cf. French translation).

2 Labbe, xi. p. 2041.

ANARCHY IN DOCTRINE

all that John had foretold of the Antichrist. In the
third century, TertuUian, led astray by Montanist
fancies, awaited the end of the world and set forth
his fanatical hope with gloomy energy. He wrote
at the time of the persecution of Septimus Severus
and Caracalla, and would have people set themselves
free from every earthly hindrance to meet martyrdom
more readily. At the date when the fatal downfall
of the empire was first foreseen, St Hilary saw the
Antichrist at one time in Sabellius, at another in Arius,
and then in the Emperor Constantius. About the
year one thousand, Adso, the monk of Luxeuil, wrote
his book De Antichristo to warn the wife of Louis
d'Outremer against vain fears. At the date of the
downfall of Constantinople two great men, Saint John
of Capistrano and the learned Nicholas of Cusa, took
up this disquieting question one after the other, until
Luther and Cranmer came upon the scene to give out
that the Antichrist was the Pope. Had one not been
able to see with one's own eyes in France how, after the
sad events of 1870, the same outpouring of predictions
was invented by frenzy, accepted by the credulous,
and propagated by the superstitious, one could not
credit the possibility of the success met with by the
most extravagant prophecies of the latter part of the
fourteenth century.

In those unhappy times, seers arose on all sides,
and their visions gained such an influence and diffusion
as had been unknown before. A hermit called Tele-
sphorus declaimed against the Church of Rome and the
clergy, foresaw the Pontificate of an " Angelic pastor,"
and predicted the close of the Schism for the year 1S93.
" At that time," he said, " the imperial crown will
pass to the King of France, who will become a universal

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

monarch." Telesphorus is clearly on Clement's side,
and therefore his book is refuted by Henry of Langen-
stein, a German, and a supporter of Urban.^ On the
other hand, in Flanders, Smet van Huysse prophesies
in the name of Urban (1391). From another quarter,
Gamaleon proclaimed the translation of the Holy See
to Germany.

In some of the gravest sermons reliance was put
upon these baseless predictions, and certain compila-
tions of the day present a singular mixture of prophetic
insanities, astrological forecasts, and doctrinal state-
ments. In a discourse uttered during Advent in 1385,
Peter d'Ailly gives the same importance to the pre-
tended seer Cyril and the eccentric Joachim de Flore
as to Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the
Evangelist.

He gives credence to all the extravagances of these
persons of sham spirituality, and does not shrink from
saying that the Antichrist of the Apocalypse will
reign within fifteen years. " There shall be signs in
the sun, the moon, and the stars," he exclaims. " The
sun, that is to say, the prelates ; the light of their
wisdom goes out : the moon, that is to say, the princes ;
the rays of their justice grow dim : the stars signify
their numerous inferiors, for grace disappears from
all." '

Others as well as D'Ailly made themselves an echo
of these fantastic predictions, and like him announced

^ Contra querndam eremitani de ultimis temporibus vaticinantem nomine
Theolopfiornm, published by Fez (Thesaurus, i. p. ii. c. 505). Cf. Valoir^
i. p. .373. Pastor, i. p. 1(55. Bibl. Nat. MSS. Lat. 8184, 14,643, 1617-

'^ Sermo iii., De Adventu Domini. D'Ailly was more happy in his
forecast, when, relying on astrological calculations, he formally predicted
in 1414 the revolution of 17B9. Cf. ray Petrus de Alliaco (1886), p. 187 ;
Revue des Sciences ecclesiastiques , series viii. vol. viii. (Sept. 1898), p. 250.

ANARCHY IN DOCTRINE

the coming of Antichrist and the approaching end of
the world. Clemangis, the disciple and friend of the
Bishop of Cambrai, compiled a special treatise on this
grave subject,^ as also did Nicholas Oresme, Bishop
of Lisieux.' Thierry de Niem asks if the Schism and
its consequences are signs preceding the approaching
arrival of Antichrist. " Yes, if one is to believe
historians and prophets," he replies.^^ St Vincent
Ferrier made it the ordinary subject of his sermons.
Seven out of ten of them were about the Last Judgment
which he believed to be near at hand.^ On the other
hand, mournful processions of twenty to thirty thousand
persons overran all the centre and south of Italy.
They were headed by great crucifixes from which
ran blood and sweat. One of these pilgrims thought
himself the prophet Elias and foretold that there
would soon be an earthquake which would precede
the end of the world. ^

All these details agree so far as to show the pro-
found perturbation of mind and the strange fancies
by which people were haunted. Superstition oozed
through all the gaps made in the faith.

On the other hand, public misfortunes awakened
a true religious spirit, and everywhere aroused a fresh
demand for prayer.

Charles VI. had just gone mad in the Forest of Mans,

* De Antichristo, ortu ejus, vita, moribus et operibus (Ed. Lydii^ p. 367).

2 Cf. Mart^ne et DuRAND, Veter. Script, nova collectio, ix. col. 1271.

^ Niem, lib. iii. xli. Thierry also composed a special treatise on the
Antichrist to he found in Schardius^ p. 834. Cf. Bellarmine, De Romano
Pontijice III. ; Brunet^ La France litteraire au XV^ siecle (1865).

^ In a letter addressed to Benedict XIII., he wrote that Antichrist will
come cito, bene cito, valde breviler. Bihl. Nat., Latin texts MS., 14669.
This letter has been printed by R. P. Fages, Histoire de Saint Vincent
Ferrier, i., App., p. Ixxvi.

'' Niem, lib. ii. 26. Gregorovius, vi, p. 638.

125

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

and people saw in it a divine punishment.^ From one
end of France to the other they made processions and
pilgrimages for the cure of their king. Notre Dame
of Chartres, the basilica of Saint Denis, Saint Catherine
du Val des Ecohers, the Sainte Chapelle of the Palace,
and other miraculous churches received one after the
other the homage and supplications of the French,
who were brought in crowds by the misfortunes of the
time to the most venerated sanctuaries. One day,
in the midst of a crowd from the frontier-province
of Lorraine, there arrived at Notre Dame du Puy,
Isabel Romee, afterwards the mother of Joan of Arc.
It was a first streak of dawn amidst the darkness of
the night. At Avignon, the Pope himself composed
a special mass for " peace," and promised indulgences
to all those who would go to hear it.

Strange and cruel, indeed, was the situation of France.
A mad king, a dissolute queen, and rival princes who
put their own interests before those of the country.
In a higher sphere, theological schools divided on
important points, bishops uncertain of the legitimacy
of their head, and, to crown the hierarchy, a doubtful
Pope !

' " The common opinioi) of the realm of France was that the king
would never be cured until the Church were in another state. . . . The
king made this excuse : We believed the advice of those who have
governed us until now, and if we have acted foolishly^ theirs is the blame
and not ours." Froissart, xvi. pp. 69 and 441.

126

CHAPTER VII

THE MEANS OF PACIFICATION

^1. The Three Ways.

About 1381, Peter d'Ailly had already pointed out the
three most practical means of securing the suppression
of religious discord : the way of compromise, the way
of abdication, and the way of a General Council.^ Other
and not less celebrated writers were associated from
the very beginning with the attempts of the future
Bishop of Cambrai, and repeated his statements.-

The compromise consisted in entrusting the care of
putting an end to the great dispute of twelve years'
standing to arbitrators who should decide without
appeal.

But where and how were they to be found ? Were
they to be cardinals ? They would be both judges and
suitors. They would be divided into separate camps
by their sympathies and antecedents, perhaps by their
interests.

Were other members of the clergy to be chosen ?
But they, too, would be divided for like reasons. Or
should princes be selected ? But is it their business
to judge ecclesiastical matters ? Or professors of law
and eminent members of Universities ? But, in addi-
tion to all the foregoing reasons that militate against
such a choice, had not most of them, and the most

J Epu'tola diaboli Leviathan apud Tschackert, Peter von Ailli, App. v.
(If. 0pp. Gers. \. col. 157.

2 Cf. DeniflEj Chartularium, iii. pp. 596, 597, 667-

127

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

celebrated of them, already given their opinion on
solemn occasions ? Could a matter of an entirely
spiritual character be treated by way of a compromise
of this sort ? Further, who would undertake to put
the arbitrators in communication with one another ?
Finally, what sanction would the arbitration sentence
possess ? Would the decision of the arbitrators carry
sufficient authority to force its acceptance ? Who
would be powerful enough to enforce it ? ^

As to the way of abdication, could it be thought of ?
The election of Boniface had given new strength to the
Roman Papacy, which had in its favour, in addition
to its primary right, all the votes that it had won since
Urban's death.

Clement had been Pope for twelve years, and it was
very improbable that he would now be willing to give
up his dignified position. Further, how great were the
practical difficulties ? In whose hands could either of
the Popes place his resignation ? How, and by what
college of cardinals, could his successor be appointed ?

The summoning of a General Council '^ appeared to
offer a more legitimate way, which was more effective
and less difficult. If votes are counted, and even if
they are weighed, it was the way which from the outset
had received most sympathy.

From the beginning of the Schism, the powerful
city of Florence, despite the urgency of the Duke of
Anjou, appeals for a council to prove that she is wrong
in remaining true to Urban.^ The King of Castile,
though canvassed by Charles V., desires to remain
neutral, until a synod convoked by the cardinals has

^ Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xv. c. 3 and 12. Denikle, iii. pp. GOl and
(i26.

2 Deniflk, iii. p. Oil.
^ Valois. i. p. 1.55,

128

THE MEANS OF PACIFICATION

been held.^ The King of France as he was dying, also
had ralHed to this solution, demanding this gathering
of the universal Church.^

Less known writers of the period advocate the same
means. On this point German doctors and Urbanists,
hke Henry von Langenstein and Conrad von Geln-
hausen,^ were in accord with French authorities and
Clementines, Hke Gerson. The latter recapitulates in
one of his sermons the efforts made on behalf of a council
by the University of Oxford, by Peter d'Ailly, and other
famous professors.*

The knight Philip de Maizi^res joins his voice ^ with
that of his brother-preacher, John de Montson.^ With
the Latin prose of the latter unites French poetry,
then in its infancy. In 1381 a rhymester thus praises
the meeting of the future council : —

" Le general Conseil en sentence qu'il dit
Ne mesprendra de rien : du tout a li m'affie.
Donques qui du Conseil general se meffie
Monstre qu'il ne sent pas bon droit pour sa partie."7

In 1385, the citizens of Ghent, too, in their quarrel with
France, demand this sure method of putting an end to
the Schism. No authority in the Church was greater

1 Bibl. Nat. , 14/)4:3, f. 114. Thesaurus novus anecdot. ii. c. 1099-1120.

2 Vaixus^ i. p. 327. The citizens of Ghent display the same opinion in
1385.

2 Cf. Aug. KneeRj Die Entstehung der Konziliarientheorie zur Geschichte
des Schismas. Schwab, Johannes Gerson, p. 124.
* Sermo coram Anglicis, ii. col. 126.

5 The Old Pilgrim's Dream, Bibl. Nat. MS. fr. 22542, f. 276.

6 In his Dialogus, composed in 1391. Bibl. Nat. MS. Latin, 1466.

7 Found at Rouen, by Valois, i. p. 385, in a MS. of Rouen Library
No. 1357.

" The General Council in the sentence that it passes
Will make no error : in all 1 will trust it.
Who then distrusts the General Council
Shows that he does not think that right is on his side."

I 129

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

than that of a General Synod at a period when the Pope
was doubtful to a large number of people.

From 1380, however, the adversaries of a council
expressed themselves thus by the mouth of St Vincent
Ferrier. " Urban's case," he said, " was judged with-
out appeal and with sovereign authority by the cardinals
of Fondi. Why should the vahdity of Clement VII.'s
election be called in question ? What good is the
decision of an QEcumenical Council ? The wars that
now devastate Europe deprive those who would take
part in it of all security. Besides, the immense multi-
tude of Italian prelates would infallibly crush the small
minority of fathers from other nations." ^

Others added : " No schism has ever yet been ended
in this way. Who would summon this universal council ?
The two rival Popes ? But they will never consent
to do so. One of them ? The other one's obedience
would disregard him. The cardinals ? Or the Emperor ?
They have not the right."

" Moreover, would sufficient numbers attend ? If
not, what would be the authority of a minority of
prelates ? Who would give it any authority ? Who
would preside over it ? Who would accept its decisions?
Is not a remedy so hard to apply worse than the
disease ? " ^

1 reproduce all these objections in detail, because
they are re-echoed again and again throughout Christen-
dom until the meeting of the Council of Constance.

^ De modemo Ecclesice scismate, 2* pars, c. iv. 2^ obj. Bibl. Nat. MS.
Lat. 1470. Later on will appear (see chap. xv. of this work), the means
used at Constance to neutralise the influence of the numerous prelates,
episcopelli italiani.

2 ITie University letter to the king-, in 1394, refutes some of these
objections. Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xv. c. iii. t. ii. p. 155. CJ. p. 231,
a decision taken the same year by the assembly of Paris.

130

THE MEANS OF PACIFICATION

Even after the final decisions of the Council, these will
still be the pretexts for disputing the value of the decrees
of that assembly.

§ 2. Useless Intervention of the University,

The third means, which finally prevailed, was also
the first to be put forward.

Immediately after the death of Charles V., the
University discussed the proposal of a council, and the
four Faculties agreed on recognising its utility. Peter
d'Ailly was commissioned to sound the disposition of
the court officially ; but the princes of the blood, who
were guardians of Charles VI., and above all the Duke
of Anjou, caused the plan to fail.^ From 1S80 to 1394,
that is to say for fourteen years, this was the great
means advocated by France, and by the University of
Paris and its disciples everywhere.

But from this date, men's minds are turned in a
new direction, and the way of cession seems for a
moment to gain upon the plan of holding a council.^

No doubt the tres viae, as the agents of the Faculties
remarked, were still maintained and put forward to-
gether, but the absolute withdrawal of both candidates
was what found the widest amount of support. No
doubt also, when all the doctors of the University were
called to the ballot in January 1394, and put their ten
thousand voting-papers into the urn, each of the three
procedures received a large number of votes, but the

1 In 1412/ D'Ailly wrote thus: "Taceo qualiter a principio schismatis
materiam concilii generalis in concilio Franciae primus ex parte Univer-
sitatis proponere diu instanter prosequi non timui." Apologia Concilii
Pisani apud Tschackert, Peter von Ailli^ App. xii. p. 37.

2 Cf. Chronic. Karoli VI., c. iii. p. 142, and c. xii. p. 236. Denifle,
iii. pp. 597 and G19.

131

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

way of cession the majority. It is curious to note that
the professors had come to look upon the two Pontiffs
as equally responsible for the Schism, and as intruders
both, and that they wished to enforce not only the
resignation of Boniface but of Clement also. It is the
first desertion of the Avignon Pope, and a new way
of regarding the solution.^

The same point of view is manifested by the Univer-
sity on another grave occasion. It wished to carry its
complaint to the throne itself, and it appointed three
of its best professors to explain to Charles what it
deemed to be the best method. Peter d'Ailly, Gilles
des Champs, Clemangis, and others therefore drew up
a joint-letter, which has remained famous. The doctors
supplied their ideas, and Clemangis threw them into
Ciceronian form.^ On June 30th, 1394, the members
of the University were admitted to the king's room.
William Barraut, prior of St Denis, gave voice to their
complaints in the presence of a numerous assembly,
and unfolded the ideas which had been developed in
their written address.

1 Henry von Langenstein composed the following' verses in his Carmen
pro pace, with regard to his belauded cession, though he had previously
maintained the way of a council : —

" Qui prius hoc faceret Christo gratissimus esset,
Promptus ad hoc placitum sit quilibet ergo duorum
Sed quia cedendo jus unus non daret altri,
Ambo desinant electi . . ."
Cf. Denifle, iii. p. 598. The date of this document is June 8, 1393.
Jarry, La "vole de fait" et I' alliance franco-milanaise, Bibl. de L'Ecole
des Chartes, 1892, p. 523.

2 " Tulliana facundia singulariter pollens, earn coloribus rhetoricis
exornandam suscepit." Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xv. c. ii. John de
Montreuil calls him " vas eloquentiae." The copy addressed to the king
is lost, but the letter exists in MS. at the Bibl. Nat. MSS. Latin, No.
1463, f. 93, and 1403, f. 20, and at the Cambrai Library, MS. 940. The
French translation, ordered by the king, is in the Vatican Library, 47t)l,
f. 171.

132

THE MEANS OF PACIFICATION

The cession of both Pontiffs was recommended by
them as the preferable method. Afterwards the
cardinals of the two obediences should meet and elect
a Pope who would be universally recognised. The
letter threatened with most terrible judgments, and
with the punishment of Dathan and Abiram, whichever
of the two Popes should refuse to resign.^ It is clear
that the rival Pontiffs are once more put on the same
footing. Was it the peremptory way in which they
were judged, or the somewhat bitter threats of the
deputation that displeased the king ? One cannot
say, but what is known is that Charles VI., urged by
the astute Peter de Luna and the Duke de Berry, gave
the University definite instructions not to busy itself
any further with the Schism.

The steps taken by the authorities of Paris had made
much noise, and their failure was still more talked
about. The king's letter was made known every-
where, and gave rise to sharp answers from the party
of Avignon.

One of them, a Dominican, attacks the address,
which he calls "libellous, blasphemous, seditious.
Theology, philosophy, rhetoric are all wanting in this
document. It is the work of juniors without experi-
ence or practical sense. They ought to be arrested
and punished." ^

It is easy to imagine the vexation felt by the members
of the University when they were rebuffed by the court
and bitterly criticised by their opponents. It was not
the first time their serious counsels had been treated
with contempt, but they thought they had an infaUible

1 Cj. Denifle, iii. p. 617. Du Boui^Y, iv. p. 687. D^Ach^ry, Spicil,
i. 776. Raynaij), a. 1.394, No. 3.
^ Denifle, iii. 634.

133

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

means of compelling the King to listen to them. They
resolved to adjourn the courts, and to suspend all
lectures and sermons, till their demands met with justice.^

It was the beginning of rebellion, not only against the
Court, but further against their old protege, the Pontiff
of Fondi and Avignon. The authorities of Paris were as
discontented with Clement as with the princes, and the
grievances uttered by France were only too well justified.
A few years previously the monk of St Denis had already
drawn a sad picture of the fiscal doings of Clement.
" By all these innovations," he wrote, " the will of the
founders of churches is frustrated, the service of God is
neglected, devotion among the faithful is diminishing,
and the realm is denuded of money. Many ecclesiastics,
wandering hither and thither, are loaded with poverty.
The schools of the kingdom, formerly so flourishing, are
abandoned, and the University of Paris, the tender
mother of the liberal arts (altrix dulciflua), mourns the
loss of her children who go abroad." ^

Since this period, the buying and selling and the
exactions of the Pope of Avignon had but increased.
In the form of voluntary rates, tithes, annates, and
various taxes, he had given permanent estabhshment
to a system of forced loans. Nothing escaped this
greedy finance, which watched everything and took
advantage of everything. The Schism lay as heavy upon
revenues as upon consciences.

Had only these extraordinary imposts some excuse in
real and urgent necessities; but the Pontifical Court,
more numerous than ever, abandoned nothing of its
traditional luxury, and did not cut down its unjustifiable

1 Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xv. c. 4 Demflk, Desolation des eglisea,
pp. 603 and 731.

2 Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. ii. c. 2.

134

THE MEANS OF PACIFICATION

extravagances by a single halfpenny.^ Moreover, the
episcopate refused to pay these fresh dues. The king's
Council took measures against the pontifical collec-
tors and sub-collectors ; and the University itself
felt obliged to become the interpreter of a growing
discontent.

§ 3. Last Days and Death of Clement VII ,

Clement himself felt that his prestige was injured, and
that his authority was diminishing among the clergy as
well as amidst the people. He had above all to win back
the good graces of Alma Mater,

For this purpose the Avignon Pontiff sent for Peter
d'Ailly, Gilles des Champs, and some other influential
members of the University. He needed, he said, to
consult their advice. But they refused, not much
attracted by an invitation as interested on the part of
the Pope as it was compromising for themselves.-

Perhaps they were encouraged in this waiting attitude
by Clement's legate at Paris, Cardinal Peter de Luna.
The latter, at this time, highly approved of the way of
cession in principle, though he would most energetically
repudiate it later on.^ Was he sincere at this date ?

1 Valois, ii. p. 388. Cf. N. de Clj^mangis, De corrupto Ecclesice statu, in
Brown, Fasciculus rerum cjcp. etfug., ii. p. 555. Protestants have often
misused passages taken from this book, the declamatory and far-fetched
tone of which is clear. Is this book, which takes the form of a pamphlet,
the work of Clemangis only ? Schubert raised the question in 1882 :
" 1st Nicholaus von Clemanges der Verfasser des Buches t " De corrupto
EcclesifB statu (Leipzig). The work certainly belongs to this epoch.

2 Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xv. c. 2.

3 Thesaurus, Nov. anecdot.,\\. 1177. "When I heard that Peter de
Luna had been elected Pope, I was extremely glad, because I had heard
him preach and approve the way of cession, when he was legate in France. ^^
John Petit^s declaration in 1406. Cf. Bourgeois du Chastenet, Nouv.
histoire du Concile de Constance, Preuves, p. 206. Douet d'Arcq, Choice de
pieces inedites du temps de Charles VL, i. p. 144.

135

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Was he a diplomatist with a succession of opinions ?
Was he merely serving his own end and nursing his
future ? God alone knows.

However this may be, the University then wrote the
Pope of Avignon a letter that was energetic to the point
of harshness : it was a final appeal to his conscience.
The king, who had urged Alma Mater to take this step,
himself sent Clement an address in which, a fortnight
previously, the Paris doctors had reminded him of the
three ways so long before put forward, and begged the
Pontiff to bestir himself at last in order to end the
Schism and restore peace.^

The bearer of this missive reached Avignon, and gave
the letter to the Pope, who began to read it. He had
scarcely perused half when he cried out in violent anger :
" But this is a libellous indictment of the Holy See !
This letter is full of poison, and does not deserve to be
read." ^

Rising abruptly, he asked the messenger who was
awaiting his reply, " Do you understand Latin ? "
" Fairly well, Holy Father." Clement withdrew in
great agitation, and the envoy did the same. The Pope
understood : this letter was an ultimatum. His irrita-
tion was redoubled when he learnt that the Paris doctors
had written at the same time to the cardinals, and that
the whole Sacred College was prompted by this new
spirit.^ His cause then was lost, and his seat at Avignon
was going to be lost to him for ever. This was true, but
in another way than he supposed. At this critical and

* Denifle, iii. p. 031. ^' Satis jam, satis hucusque cessatum est, satis
tepuimus, satis quievimus, satis expectavimus. Exurgendum aliquando
ad pacem est. . . ."

^ Chronic. Karoli VI., Ixv. c. 5.

3 Du Boui^Y, iv. p. 700. D'AcH^RY, Spicil. , i. 785. Bibl. Nat. Paris,
MSS. Lat 1463, p. 986, 14G43, f. 24.

136

THE MEANS OF PACIFICATION

final moment Clement appeared to wish to repent, and
to obey the counsels that reached him from all sides.
He seemed resolved to resign, and disclosed his in-
tention to several people. Then suddenly he was
smitten with indisposition. He was ill several days, and
then, thinking that he was better, he left his room to
hear Mass. No sooner had he got back than he
collapsed, smitten with a mortal affection. He hardly
had time to invoke God, the Blessed Virgin, and the
holy cardinal he had himself promoted, Peter of Luxem-
bourg, but died almost immediately.^ It was on
September 16, 1394. The Pope's body was buried with
great pomp in the Cathedral des Doms ; and then, seven
years later, he was gathered to the venerated remains
of the Blessed Peter of Luxembourg amidst the Celestins
of Avignon.

It is rather difficult to arrive at an impartial estimate
of Clement VII. His character was as complex as his
life was agitated. Sprung from an illustrious race,
gifted with every talent of wit and speech, an enlightened
patron of literature and art, in less troubled times he
might have been a Pope worthy of the tiara, a Colonna
or a Borghese, a Martin V. or a Paul V.

As has been already said, Italy had never forgiven him
the massacre at Cesena, which he had not prevented, nor
yet his return to Avignon. France murmured, and
submitted to his exactions and extravagance. Chris-
tendom will ever regret that he did not generously
abandon the Pontifical throne which he had ascended
through rebellion and intrigue, and in which he had
been maintained by force of arms and an artfulness that
was only too human. Clement VII. is incessantly
thrown hither and thither by circumstance, by passion

^ Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xv. c. 5.

137

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

and self-interest. One day he tries to gain the upper
hand by poHcy, the next by force ; one day by promising
to assemble a Council (1387), the next by the via facti.
For sixteen years he lives by expedients : promising
benefices to a bishop, lavishing fine words on a king,
encouraging this or that ambitious pretender, he tries
to please or force himself upon the seven kingdoms that
recognise him.

At one time he receives the King of France with the
greatest magnificence in his palace at Avignon, and
grants him the nomination to certain bishoprics, and
to seven hundred and fifty benefices (November 1389).
At another he prepares the young Duke of Orleans'
invasion of Italy, unites his interests with the prince's,
and aspires once more to force the Romans to accept
him (1393). He does not repudiate the " use of brutal
force," though it is unworthy of his cause and his sacred
character. " He subjects the clergy to the civil magis-
trates and princes," says Clemangis, " and each of them
is more of a pope than the Pope himself." ^ He always
behaves as a clever but egotistical ruler, who lives rather
for himself and his ambition than for his people and his
duty. Tacitus might have written Omnia serviliter pro
dominatione.

On December 13, 1294, just a century before, St
Peter Celestin, for less grave reasons, had known how to
leave the throne of St Peter and to make the " great
renunciation," whereof Dante speaks.' " Would to
God that this lofty example were followed ! " exclaimed
Peter d'Ailly, the biographer of the humble and valiant
Pontiff. " In our own days, some have risen by

^ " Ut principum benevolentiam facilius assequeretur, assecutam
foveret, fotamque conservaret, conservatam amplificaret, plurima ultro
dona et xenia illis dabat."

^ Inferno, c. iii.

138

THE MEANS OF PACIFICATION

ambition to this climax of honour, and now for many-
years the Church continues rent asunder by a terrible
and fatal Schism." ^

Yet perhaps Clement was in good faith ! Perhaps he
ought to be pitied even more than blamed ! There are
times when the greatest difficulty is not to do one's
duty, but to know it. King Charles VI. expressed long
ago an idea that seems right, when he sent the Cardinals
a laconic wish six days after Clement's death, a wish
that was perhaps for him the best of funeral prayers :
" May the Most High grant him pardon ! cui parcat
Altissimusy ^

1 Vita Beatissimi Patris Domini Petri Coslestini quiyiti , a.^ud Boi.i.asd. ,
Acta SS. Mail iv. p. 428.

2 Chronic. KaroH VL, lib. xv. c. 6. In the list of Popes is another
Clement VII., Julian di Medici, who donned the tiara in 1523, and died
in 1534. Two centuries later, we find another Benedict XIII., Vincent
Marie Orsini, who ascended St Peter^s throne in 1724 and reigned till
1730. But this argument, taken alone, would not prove the illegality
of the Popes of Avignon. Several names, borne by alleged anti-popes,
were not taken afterwards by legitimate Popes (Leo VIII., Boniface VII.,
Benedict X.). Cf. Gayet, Preface, xvii.

139

CHAPTER VIII

BENEDICT XIII. THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

§ 1. Election of Benedict XI I L

On the death of Clement VII., there was a unique
opportunity for the French cardinals to put an end to
the Schism. They had only to abstain from electing a
successor, and the peace of the Church was restored.

Unhappily, too many interests and passions were
involved for the members of the Sacred College either to
be able or to wish to take advantage of this favourable
opportunity. Scarcely had the body of Clement been
laid beside that of John XXII. in the Cathedral vaults
(September 18, 1394), than the cardinals went into
conclave.^

In these delicate circumstances, what will the King
of France, the recognised protector of the Avignon
Papacy, do ? On the news of the Pontiff's death,
Charles called together his privy council. They unani-
mously decided to beg the Sacred College to defer the
election until the King of France had sent a special and
important message to the Cardinals. A letter was
despatched immediately to make this decision known.

On its side the University did not remain inactive.
Its influence was increasing amidst these divisions. It

^ The names of the twenty-one members of the Sacred Colleg-e then at
Avignon are in Baluzk, i. col. 5(>f)^ and also in the document published by
Khrij3 in 1889, Archiv filr lAteratur iind Kirchengeschichte, v. p. 401,
I'ribourg. The article is called : Aus den Aden des Afterconcils von
Ferpignan.

140

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

sent Charles a deputation of professors, commissioned to
present him four requests : " That the Cardinals should
delay the opening of the conclave until the king had
settled the method of procedure. The way of cession
seems to us the best and easiest. An assembly composed
of prelates, barons, and members of the University, and
notables should meet to select the surest means of
succeeding. That the King should write to the Pope
of Rome and his principal partisans. That Charles
should finally have prayers offered and solemn pro-
cessions made to obtain the restoration of peace from
God." 1

The King acceded to all these demands, then in his
turn he begged the professors to resume their lectures
and teaching functions. They eagerly consented. On
the same day, September S3, Charles resolved to send a
deputation to Avignon, for the purpose of hindering a
fresh election and trying to put an end to the Schism.

Unhappily, when the first message reached the
Sacred College, all the members had already met in
conclave.- Doubtless the prelates guessed the contents
of the royal letter, for they resolved to open it only after
the election had been accomplished. Nevertheless, as
they were anxious to be conscientiously in order, and as
they did not wish to have to face the reproaches of the
King, they pledged themselves by solemn oath to work
for the suppression of the Schism by helping the new
Pope, and by putting no obstacle in the way of his good
will. Each of them promised, if elected, to use the best
means for the restoration of religious unity, even were it
necessary for that end to renounce the papacy, should
this be thought indispensable for the good of the Church.^

1 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xv. c. 7. Cf. Valois, iii. p. 7.

2 Ibid., c. 8. 26th September 1394. 3 Niem, lib. ii. 32.

141

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Therefore the way of cession was adopted in principle by
the whole Sacred College, and seemed to be on the point
of triumphing.^

After a promise of such grave import, the twenty- one
cardinals together invoked the light of the Holy Spirit,
and then unanimously elected the former legate at
Paris, Peter de Luna of Aragon, who took the name of
Benedict XIII.

The vacancy of the see had only lasted twelve days.

Born of a noble family of Aragon, Peter de Luna had
studied to good effect in France, and professed canon
law in the University of Montpellier. Gregory XL made
him a cardinal, and took him as a companion when he
returned to Rome. First of all convinced of the
legitimacy of Urban VI., he was one of the last to rally to
his rival ; but his loyalty, though late, was absolute and
effective. It is he who brought over the whole of the
Spanish peninsula to the cause of Clement VI. A
conqueror in Spain, he was a temporiser in Paris : but
on both sides of the Pyrenees he showed himself a
consummate diplomatist. In 1394 he was sixty-six
years of age.

At the conclave of Avignon he was a supporter of
cession. " He acted as a very Lamb of God, to a
marvellous degree : and I should have gladly given him
my vote, had I been able to vote for him," said Simon
de Cramaud afterwards.^ As, until then, he had seemed
insinuating and eloquent, exemplary in life and pacific
in character, he was chosen by all the members of the
Sacred College. They were convinced that he would do

^ Three cardinals, however, refused to swear, says the document in Ehrle,
p. 402. Baluzk says there was only one, the Cardinal of Pampeluua,
op. cit., p. 571.

2 Speech at the Council of Paris, 1406. Cf. Bourgeois du Chastenet,
Nouvelle histoire du Concile de Constance, Preuves, p. 216.

142

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

even more than he said, and that under him, union
would meet with no hindrance, at any rate on his part.
Moreover, he had wished to refuse the honourable post
that was offered him.^ During the first five months of
his reign he apparently justified the most optimistic
expectations. One day he said, as he was taking off
his cope, " I would resign the Papacy as readily as I
put aside this vestment." - "I would rather be a friar
than keep the Church in such a state of Schism," he
added, and people were convinced that what he said
was true.

§ 2, The new Pope's State of Mind,

Unhappily, in Benedict XIII., as in Urban VI., it was
soon plain that there was a deplorable change in his
conduct and character.^ Was it the result of ambition
which had been until then dissimulated and was now
revealed ? Was it that, after having become used to
honours and the highest dignity in the world, he found
the sacrifice of giving them up too hard ? Who can
say?

Nevertheless, Benedict's first inclinations had been
excellent. Immediately after his election, he had
hastened to write to the King. " I give you notice of my
promotion," he said in substance, " and at the same
time I assure you of my fixed and sincere desire of
bringing the Schism to an end. I have made use of your

^ Biu renitens, says Ehri.e's document^ p. 40o. Invito et diu renuenti
inthronizatus , p. 403.

2 Chronic. Karoli VL,\\h. xv. c. 10. The religious of St Denis reports
the same fact and attributes it to Clement VII. ^ lib. iii. c. 14. Cf.
Valois, ii. p. 401. Both may have made the same proposal.

^ ^^Petrus ille de Luna, homo nunquam nonlunaticus, turbavit omnia."
Meyer, Annales rerum Flandricarum , a. 1406, p. 225.

143

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

good counsels, and of those of the princes, your uncles,
that to you may belong all the glory of having rendered
this great service to the Church. To arrive at my
object, I shall employ all reasonable and possible
means : but I beg you to despatch an important
embassy to Avignon at once. I will accept without any
tergiversation everything proposed by it. I would
rather end my days in the desert or the cloister than
contribute in any way to prolong a state of disorder so
prejudicial to every one." ^

A letter from Alma Mater reminded the new Pope, in
pressing terms, of the desire he had always manifested on
behalf of union : - " To-day," she said, '' the moment is
favourable and heaven seems to second your aspirations.
Without delay carry out the peaceful designs which you
have so long mentally decreed. If you hesitate,
flatterers, courtiers, and persons of ambition will come
to petition you in an opposite sense. You will in-
sensibly get a taste for honours and act like your
predecessor. Who knows how long you will possess the
authority God has entrusted to you ? The peace of the
Church is in your hands, for your rival will no doubt
have to imitate you. Should he refuse to do so, every-
one will be convinced of your good right, and he will be
overthrown like the most hardened of heretics. The
safety and unity of the Church depend then upon you." ^

The Pope at first received this touching request favour-
ably, and gave a kind welcome to the list of promotions
sent him by the University on behalf of its professors
and disciples. Benedict desired them to depute him an
extraordinary embassy, and Charles thought that he

^ Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xv. c. 1).
^ Denifle, ChartuL, iii. p. 602.
^ Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xv. c. 19.

144

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

could not do better than send the Pope his almoner,
Peter d'Ailly, to prepare the way. The doctor, young
and famous, had been for five years chancellor of the
University of Paris, and he had just been promoted to
be treasurer of the Sainte-Chapelle.^

Through these important posts he belonged both to
the University and to the Court, and he was about to
represent them both to the new Pontiff of Avignon.
Moreover, through his correspondence with the most
important personages of the period,^ by his diplomatic
spirit, and by his sincere desire to put an end to the
Schism, he was naturally marked out for this confidential
mission (October 1904).

The discourses pronounced by Peter d'Ailly on this
important occasion have been preserved, and I have
read them in MS. in the Cambrai Library.^ The skilful
ambassador, in a style, the taste of which in these days
would seem somewhat inflated, first paid the Pope
some prophetic compliments which the future did little
to justify. He hoped to see the end of the Schism,
thanks to the good- will, the power, and the learning
of Benedict. He gave an anticipatory greeting to the
dawn of peace and of the reformation of the Church.

Then d'Ailly speaks in the name of Wenceslas, King

1 Ehrle, p. 406. TscHACKERT, Peter von Ailli, p. 91. Valois, iii. p. 24.

2 Letter from P. d'Ailly to the King^ June Q, 1394 (Denifle, GhartuL,
iii. pp. 620, 624). Letter from Clement VII. to P. d'Ailly (/6/rf., 483 and
485). Letter from B. Alaman to d'Ailly about his treatise de scismate,
(Ibid., p. 600). Letter from P. d^Ailly to Henry von Langenstein, and the
latter's reply (i6trf. , p. 637)-

3 MS. of Cambrai Library, No. 531, f. 203 verso. Tschackert and
Valois are mistaken in thinking that this discourse was uttered during
the embassy of which d^Ailly had just been given charge in 1398 {Peter
von Ailli, p. 353). But the orator says that the Schism has lasted sixteen
years, so that this document must date from 1394. Before 1843, Pertz
had already noted this MS. at Cambrai {Archiv., viii. 431).

K 145

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

of the Romans ; but in these speeches there is no men-
tion of the way of cession. Was it that just then he
judged it better to reserve this dehcate subject for the
private conversations he was to have with Benedict ?
Was it that he already read the secret thought of the
Pope, and distrusted his sincerity ? ^

What was the adroit Pontiff's reply ? It appears
that it was simply to gain time, and that d'Ailly re-
ceived no positive assurances. In fact, on his return to
Paris, the ambassador, after having given the King an
account of his secret mission, appeared in the midst of
the great assembly of the clergy, held at the royal
mansion of St Paul, February 1, 1395. Peter d'Ailly
again highly extolled the way of cession as the most ex-
peditious, the most simple, and the most advantageous.^
The meeting approved, and next day eighty- seven pre-
lates out of a hundred and nine declared for the same
method. They expressed a similar opinion in the in-
structions given to the messengers the King meant to
send to Avignon. " If the Pope will accept this means,"
they added, " it will be necessary to inform the princes
who belong to the Roman Pontiff's obedience before
letting the intruder Boniface know himself. If he

^ Jn this MS. are traces of concetti that are frequent in rhetorical works
of the period. D'Ailly says to the Pope : " Fiet pax ista vera utique et
perfecta si sit misericordia in affectu quantum ad inchoationis ingressum,
si sit Veritas in effectu quantum ad mediationis progressum, si sit
justitia in profectu quantum ad consummationis egressum." But it
contains no mention of the way of cession. Yet it is certain that he
spoke of it to Benedict, for the Duke of Burgundy makes allusion to such
a communication in 1398, when a new withdrawal of obedience is at
stake. But the Duke is mistaken when he asserts that this request was
made in full consistory. Cf. Choix de pieces inedites par Douet-d'Arcq, i.
p. 145.

'^Chronic. Karoli F7., lib. xv. c. 11. Hepele, History of the Councils ,
X. p. 87. Jarry, Louis de France, p. 131.

146

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

refuses, the sovereigns will have an excellent resource
against him : withdrawal of obedience." ^

Alas ! it was against the obstinate Benedict, and not
against Boniface, that the French clergy would soon
have to enforce this rigorous measure. The solemn
embassy which was to leave for Avignon was com-
posed of the Dukes of Berry and Burgundy, the Duke
of Orleans, the King's brother, as well as of a brilliant
company of nobles and professors of the University.
On May 21, the delegates reached Villeneuve-lez-
Avignon, and next day they were received with apparent
friendliness by the Pope. Benedict was already dis-
trustful of such counsels as he might get from Paris.
Also a few days later, when the embassy ventured to
ask him again for the text of the oath the future Pope
had taken before the conclave like the other cardinals,
the Pontiff at first refused. But when urged energeti-
cally by the deputies, he finally consented to allow it
to be copied.^

^ Chronic, lib. xv. c. 12. Valois^ iii. p. 36.

^ Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xvi. c. 2, In the whole of this narrative 1
shall follow the document discovered by Father Franz Ehrle^ S. J., in the
Calvet Museum at Avignon. This text, published in 1889 in the Archiv
fur Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters , is much more complete
than that of Baluze {Informatio seriosa, Vitae Pap. Avenion., ii. col. 1107).

Certain reserves, however, should be made, for this document is
brought forward by one of Benedict's partisans, who sets himself to justify
all the Avignon Pontiff's actions to his contemporaries and to posterity.
Father Ehrle has collated his text, which is of a later date, with that of
Baluze and with a Vatican MS. The Roman document, like that of
Baluze, dates from 1399. The original edition has undergone erasures
and modifications, which are very strongly substantiated in the second
text published by Ehrle, and drawn up in 1408. Benedict's position was
changed, and that was why these alterations were made.

The first part of the documents given by the learned Jesuit contains,
after the introduction, the first period of Benedict's government until the
Treaty of Chateau-Renard (1394-1403). The second contains an account
of negotiations with Gregory XII. (1404-1408). The third relates the
rupture of the negotiations, Benedict's flight, and the circumstances that

147

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

This obstinate and equivocal resistance can only be
explained by supposing that Benedict had already no
intention of keeping his promise. He was anxious
that the official document he had signed should not
be able to be used against him.

§ 3. The Pontiffs Designs,

What the Avignon Pope wanted, as he soon de-
clared to the ambassadors, was a joint- conference
between himself and Boniface and their respective
colleges of cardinals in a safe place not far from France
and under the King's protection. "This new way,"
it was claimed by Benedict, " is wiser and easier than
cession." ^

A few days later, Gilles des Champs ^ answered him
in the name of the King's envoys. He urgently begged
the Pope to adopt the means proposed by the court of
Paris. " It is the King's express wish," added the
Duke de Berry. " If that be so," answered the Pope,
" let Charles give me his written notification of it."
" There is no need of writing," said Gilles des Champs ;
" the whole of our proposals may be summed up in
one word : cession J" " I want the requisite time and
leisure for reflection," repHed Benedict at last. " More-

characterised the pseudo-council of Perpi^nan (1408-1409). The manu-
script found by Ehrie modifies all the facts hitherto acknowledged in
several points, and fills up some important gaps.

1 Chronic, c. 3. Valois, iii. p. 48.

2 He was from Rouen diocese. First educated at the College d'Harcourt
and a master of arts, he became a doctor of theology in 1388. Then he
was rector of the College of Navarre in 1389. Made a cardinal with P.
d'Ailly on June 6, 1411, he held the administration of the Church of
Coutances, of which he had been appointed bishop, October 2, 1409.
He died at Rouen in 1413.

148

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

over, I assure you that I am still most ready to secure
the peace of the Church."

The cardinals, gathered at Villeneuve and consulted
by the ambassadors, each gave their opinion on the
point. They also rejected the Pope's evasions, and
all were for the great word : cession. The only ex-
ception was the Cardinal of Pampeluna, who openly
pronounced in favour of the " way of action," and called
for the use of force. " The true way according to
God and right," he said, " the way to restore peace
and union to the Church, is to expel the intruder by
armed force as far as possible." ^

In spite of all this opposition, the Pope continued his
tergiversation and hesitation. He had prepared a bull,
and he handed a copy of it to the Dukes. '' The way of
cession,'' he said in it, " is not admissible in law as a
means of putting an end to schisms. It has never been
employed, but on the contrary always rejected as un-
suitable. Any innovation in this direction would be
prejudicial to the Church, and make a regrettable
precedent." ^

Then Benedict set forth his own plan, which was, as
has been said, to have an interview with his rival and the
cardinals of the other side, so that they might re-
spectively explain their reasons. " If the interview
leads to no result," he added, " let an arbitration
tribunal be formed, and let it decide either unanimously
or by a majority of two-thirds." The Avignon Pope
was already beginning to give proofs of that unhappy
obstinacy in which he was to continue till the day of his

^ Ehrle, pp. 23-28. Cf. The Embassy Minutes, by Goutier Col, the
King's secretary, Veterum scriptorum amplissima collectio, vii. pp. 46G,
472, and 492. The cardinal was called Martin de Salva.

2 Chronic. Karoli VI. , lib. xvi. c. 4 and o.

149

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

death. He resisted all the entreaties of the Sacred
College and the Embassy.

He was even accused of having the famous bridge
between Avignon and Villeneuve burnt down, so that
the dukes who lived there " might not have an oppor-
tunity of coming to him," says the irascible John Petit,
who formed part of the legation.^ He went so far as to
refuse to receive the delegates of the University in
public audience. The latter, it was said, asked for one
at hours and places which did not suit the Pontiff. Was
this a reason or an excuse ?

As lavish of the property of the Church as he was
sparing of his own, he offered the dukes to conquer and
take possession of the countries that constituted the
Pontifical patrimony in Italy, and which, moreover,
were not under his dominion as yet. In this he only
followed the somewhat dishonourable proceedings of
his predecessor, who sixteen years before had given up
the Kingdom of Adria to the Duke of Anjou.

The uncles of the King of France scornfully replied
that they had no need of his assistance. While this was
going on, the relations between the ambassadors and the
cardinals became more and more friendly and frequent.
In Avignon they often met in the Cordeliers' monastery,
and they planned together what requests and replies
they should send to the Pope. In all these cautious
negotiations, the details of which would be tiresome,
the Pontiff clearly sought only to gain time and tire out
the royal envoys. A last interview took place in which
they could get no concession from the inflexible Benedict,
notwithstanding his most solemn pledges (July 8).-

1 Speech at Paris University, 1408. Cf. Ehrle, p. 475.

2 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xv. c. 14. Jouvenel des Ursins, a. 1395.
Michaud collection, p. 400. Valois, iii. p. 02.

150

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

Before leaving the papal palace, the dissatisfied dukes
convoked the cardinals and several other persons whom
they had chosen. All met on July 9, 1395. Four
orators harangued the crowd in the name of the King
and of the University, and endeavoured to justify their
conduct and censure that of the Pontiff. As for the
cardinals, they were almost all won over to the King's
side ; all their benefices were in France : their supphes
were threatened and their zeal corresponded with their
interests.

§ 4. The Displeasure of the King of France and the
other Rulers,

From this period, the new Pope only seemed to use his
ability, which was great, his knowledge, which was pro-
found, and his tenacity, which was astounding, in finding
out political expedients or legal subtleties to put off the
day of his downfall. One of his historians puts him
down as homo contentiosus}

First, the obedience of Avignon began to doubt the
Pope's promises and to distrust his good faith. Jouvenel
des Ursins takes note of this state of mind. "Many
suspected that it was all make-beHevC;" he writes of
Benedict, " that he said one thing and meant another." ^

There was no backwardness in accusing him, when he
was seen to be multiplying difficulties. The impetuous
John Petit loudly denounced him later on at the Council
of Paris : " The Pope of Avignon only follows his own
wishes," said he in a vehement prosecuting speech.

1 Auctor Vitae Innoc. VIL apud Muratori, iii. 836. John Petit' s speech
in the Council in 1406. Of. Bourgeois du Chastenet, Nouvelle histoire
du Concile de Constance, Preuves, p. 107.

2 Histoire de Charles VI., p. 387.

151

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

" He has owned more than once that he would rather
beg for bread than give in." ^

Still less respectful was the Archbishop of Reims
when he added a few days later : " Benedict comes from
a good mule-country : when they take to a road, it is
easier to skin them than to get them to turn back." 2

When the ambassadors had returned to Paris after
a hundred and twenty days' useless negotiations/ King
Charles saw clearly that he could not count upon the
Pontiff of Avignon for the restoration of peace to the
Catholic world. He decided thenceforward to join with
other Christian princes for the object ''of bringing the
ship of the Church safe to port," as the monk of
St Denis observed.

At the close of 1395, on the advice of the University,
he sent a deputation to the archbishops and German
princes, but it soon returned without having accom-
phshed anything. An embassy to England was cour-
teously received by Richard II., who then desired the
hand of the young Isabel of France. The King promised
to work for union, but advised the deputies not to open
up relations with the University of Oxford, which was
heartily on the side of the Itahan Pope.* In reality,
England did nothing to help Avignon.

Next year, Charles VI. sent ambassadors again to all
the neighbouring princes. The King of the Romans at
that time was the drunken and debauched Wenceslas.
As an old translator of Boccacio said of him : " he
had no remembrance of the marvellous exploits of

' Bourgeois du Chastenet, op. cit., Preuves, p. 117.
^ Ibid., pp. 147 and 226.

3 Bibl. Nat MS. f. 10,431, 594. They returned to Paris, August 24,
1395.

* Chronic, c. 14.

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

liis predecessors, and loved the glory of Bacchus
of Thebes more than he added splendour to the Italian
Mars." 1

Such a prince could not be zealous for the cause of
union. He refused to receive the delegates of the
University, but nevertheless welcomed the envoys of
the King with a certain amount of courtesy, and
promised to deliberate over their proposals.'

The King of Hungary was more definite, and approved
the way of cession. So did the archbishops of Treves
and Cologne, and the archdukes of Austria and Bavaria.
In another direction, the sovereigns of the Spanish
peninsula gave some encouragement to the designs of the
King of France.^

Meanwhile, news came to France (December 25, 1396)
of the sanguinary defeat of John the Fearless at Nicopolis
and of the dearly purchased victory of the Sultan
Bajazet. The stupor resulting from the unsuccess of
this chivalrous enterprise and solicitude for the liberation
of the French prisoners were a hindrance to the pro-
secution of the great matter of putting an end to the
Schism. The ambassadors of France, England, and
Castile only went to see the Pope towards the middle
of June 1897. Benedict again refused to listen to
pacific counsels, and put forward as an alternative his
plan of compromise.^ The French representatives, that

^ Histoire litteraire de la France, xxiv. p. 141. According to P. Paris,
French MSS., i. p. 2.54. Blie3ietzrieder, Studien and Mittheilungen
(1903).

2 The ambassadors reported on their mission to the Parisian Synod,
(Aug. 16-31, 1396). I say no more of this assembly for fear of com-
plicating my narrative. Though there were forty-three prelates present,
it produced no result.

3 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xvii. c. 1, 6, 11, 18. T>\j Boui^y, iv. p. 773.
Raynald, Foedera (Feb. 13 and Aug. 17).

*■ Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xvii. c. 83. Clf. Ehrle, p. 422.

153

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

is to say, Gilles des Champs, John Courtecuisse,^ and
the ChevaHer de Calleville, were very dissatisfied when
the way of cession was once more rejected. Calleville
made a solemn announcement to the obstinate Benedict :
" If by Candlemas," he said, " the Church is not ruled by
a single Pastor, the King of France will take energetic
and efficacious measures." '^

The deputies then went to see Boniface at Rome. He,
like his competitor of Avignon, intrenched himself
behind pleas in bar, and only sought to gain time. " I
will examine the matter at leisure with my brethren the
cardinals," he said. " I will consult the princes within
my jurisdiction, and then I will inform the sovereigns
who have sent you of my decisions."

About the same time Wenceslas, urged more and more
by the King of France, and impelled from another side
by the University of Prague, resolved to quit the cause
of the Roman Pope, to brave the dissatisfaction of a
few nobles, and to agree to an interview with Charles VI.
at Reims, to work together for the restoration of
religious peace. ^

The French sovereign, dehghted with this decision,
went to meet the King of the Romans, and conducted
him in state to Reims, March 31, 1398. He gave him
great presents, and offered him magnificent entertain-
ments, which more than once put the sobriety of the
German prince to the proof.

In a moment of presence of mind, Wenceslas promised
the King of France to bestir himself with Pope Boniface

1 " Breviscoxa." He was afterwards Bishop of Paris, then of Geneva.
Cf. Launoy, Navarr. Gymn. Historia, p. 264.

2 Hefele, History of Councils, x. p. 104. Mart^ne et Durand, Vet.
Script, nova collectio, vii. pp. 550 and 622. Christophe, Histoire de la
Papautc pendant le XlVe Siecle, iii. p. 164.

3 Cambrai Library, 940, f. 42 ff.

154

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

to beg him to abdicate. He had at hand a negotiator of
special fitness : Peter d'Ailly had given up the see of
Puy ^ to take possession of that of Cambrai. As Count
of Cambresis, he had just taken an oath of fealty to the
King of the Romans (April 3, 1398). Wenceslas begged
him to betake himself to Avignon to get the way of
cession accepted there.^

Peter d'Ailly took his departure immediately, taking
with him Wenceslas' intimate private secretary, Nicholas
of Jewicka. When he reached Benedict's court, he was
received in public consistory, in the presence of the
cardinals, prelates, and a large number of laymen. He
spoke and made a speech full of gentleness, facility, and
captivating wit. " The King of the Romans," he
said, " agrees with the King of France in urging you to
restore the peace of the Church, and to realise the holy
aspirations you have so long manifested." ^ The Bishop
of Cambrai plainly takes the liberty of reminding the
Pontiff of the promises he had made at the time of his
election.*

1 He had been appointed to Puy in succession to Itier de Martreuil,
April 2, 1395, but he never went there. His translation to Cambrai was
made by a bull dated Nov. 15, 1396, and he took the oath of allegiance
at Soissons, June 5, 1397.

2 Archiv. Vatic, Arm. Ixiii. t. 85, p. 30.

3 Cambrai Library, MS. 531, f. 205-208.

* There are three authentic proofs of this embassy. The first is in the
speech of Peter Ra vat. Bishop of Saint-Pons, at the Council of Paris, May
29, 1398, a month after the event. The second is in a memorial against
the two Popes read before the 5th session of the Council of Pisa, April
24, 1409 (Habdouin, viii. col. 60 ; Mansi, xxvi. col. 1198). The
third is in a similar document read at the 32nd session of the Council of
Constance (Hardouin, viii. col. 772 ; Mansi, xxvii. col. 1083).
Froissart's account (xvi. p. 116) is in every way erroneous. It puts
d^Ailly's embassy in September, whilst it took place in April. He thinks
the Bishop of Cambrai was sent by the King of France as well as by the
King of the Romans, and adds that he was accompanied by the Marshal
de Boucicaut, so that everything he affirms is mistaken. Lastly, like

155

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

The Pope replied to this pressing invitation now in the
most definite way. '* Never," said he, "have I consented
to the method of cession^ and never will I do so. I
believe it would be a mortal sin to use this means."

These words largely upset those who were present.
They saw that every hope of reaching a settlement in
this direction was vanishing. Moreover, they all re-
membered an emphatic utterance of Benedict's, which
he had addressed a year previously to the Chevalier
Louis de Tignonville : " The King wants to force cession
upon me : I shall do nothing of the kind. I would
rather be flayed alive than cede." ^

Did Peter d'Ailly and his companions go to Rome,
as Froissart asserts, and he is followed in his statement
by several historians ? Did they hear the words which
the inventive chronicler puts into the Pope's mouth :
" My children," he makes the Pope say to the people,
take comfort and assurance from my resolve to remain
Pope, and whatever the kings of France and Germany
and their counsellors may have said and done, I shall
not submit to their will." ^

The reality of this journey has been much and justly
called in question. It is, however, certain that the

Livy, he puts into the mouth of a bishop, who was indeed a devoted
partisan of Benedict's, a speech that was an insolent ultimatum. The
chronicler of Valenciennes, who was on special terms with his neighbour,
the Bishop of Cambrai, ought to have remembered that the latter did not
abandon the cause of the Avignon Pope until much later, towards 1408.

Finally, it is to be noted that the cardinals, writers, or editors of the
two latter documents took an active part in all these negotiations.
Hence the official accounts are much more reliable than Froissart's
sometimes fanciful stories.

^ Bourgeois du Chastenet, op. cit., Texte, p. 24 ; Preuves, p. 30.

' Froissart, xvi. pp. 86 and 117. CJ. Martene et Duranu, vii., Preface,
p. lii. TscHACKERT, Peter von Ailli, p. 103. Raynald, a. 1409, No. 50.
Valois, iii. p. 135.

156

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

Bishop of Cambrai returned to Wenceslas, and that the
latter sent to Paris to inform Charles of the negative
reply he had received from Benedict.^ Then the King
thought that an energetic line should be adopted, and
that the Church should be saved, as he maintained,
without the Popes and in their despite.

§ 5. The Withdrawal of Obedience,

However, Charles did not wish to undertake this grave
responsibility alone. He convoked all the clergy with
the professors of the University at Paris. On May 22,
1398, eleven archbishops, sixty bishops, thirty abbots,
a large number of inferior prelates, and representatives
of the Universities of the realm met in one of the halls
of the royal palace.

The masterful Patriarch of Alexandria,^ Simon of
Cramaud, spoke first and set forth the state of the
case since the death of Clement VII., and the efforts
made by the King of France to attain peace by the way
of cession, " Since Benedict obstinately refuses," he
said, " we must find out whether the Church of France is
going to throw off all obedience so far as he is concerned,
or whether a partial withdrawal of allegiance would
suffice to make the Avignon Pope reflect." Six com-
missioners were appointed to defend Benedict, and six

^ Lindner, Geschichte des deutschen Reichs unter Konig Wenzel II.,
p. 394.

2 He played a great part in all these events. Coming- from Orleans, he
was appointed Bishop of Agen in 1382, of Beziers in 1383, and of Poitiers
in 1385, and Patriarch of Alexandria in 1391. He was called to the see
of Reims in 1409, by Alexander V., and made cardinal in 1413. Died
1423. His tomb was found in Poitiers Cathedral. Cf. Abbe' Auber,
Relation, 1859.

157

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

to set forth the grievances that might be brought
against him.^

On May 29, Peter Ravat, the envoy of the Pontiff of
Avignon, made a Latin speech to sustain his case. He
asserted that Benedict must be obeyed in all his orders,
however wrong he might be in conduct, and even if he
were suspected of heresy, until he were declared to be
heretical by a lawful sentence. He attempted to show
the probable evil results of withdrawal and tried to
exonerate Benedict from the charge of extortion that
had been brought against him. '' Moreover," he added,
" even if the Pope gave in, many persons would doubt
whether such a cession were valid. . . . The kings of
France have always been protectors of the Pontiffs ;
sometimes they have restored them to their see ; I
cannot believe that Charles VI. will be the first to
persecute them." Two others spoke in the same sense.
Then the president, the Chevalier de Tignonville, and
Professor Gilles des Champs maintained the opposite
thesis : they uttered a good number of Galilean pro-
positions, cited many legal passages, and quoted certain
very mistaken historical precedents.^ After a few
rephes, the University of Paris, by the mouth of Pro-
fessor Peter Plaoul, declared against the Pope, and
demanded an entire withdrawal of obedience.^ The
Universities of Angers, Montpellier, and Orleans declared
in the same sense.

On July 28, in the midst of a fresh assembly, the

' Bourgeois du Chastenet, Texte^ p. 8 ; Preuves^ p. 4.

2 Cf. Ehrle, Archiv. fur Literatur, vi. p. 274 ff.

^ Du BouLAY, iv. p. 885. As to Plaoul^ if. Froissart^ xvi. pp. 69 and
278. This prelate was one of the clergy of Liege, and the monk of St
Denis says of him : '^ In sacra pagina ejccellentissimus professor." Later
on he was interpreter to the Sorhonne at the Council of Pisa. He died
Bishop of Senlisj on April 11, 1415.

158

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

Chancellor of France, Arnaud de Corbie, spoke in the
name of the King, and declared that, out of three
hundred prelates called upon to vote, two hundred and
forty-seven were for the entire abandonment of obedi-
ence, until the Pontiff of Avignon had effectively
adopted the way of cession.^ The Duke of Bourbon
pronounced in the same sense ; the Dukes of Burgundy,
Berry, the Count of Alen9on, the Duke of Lorraine, and
others also acquiesced in this decision.^

M. Noel Valois maintains, contrary to generally
accepted opinion, that the withdrawal of obedience was
only voted by a rather narrow majority of the clergy,
viz. about three-fifths of the meeting, and even that
because of royal pressure. The Duke of Orleans and
thirty prelates demanded that a fresh summons should
be sent to Benedict. Others to the number of fifty
pronounced in different ways. This eminent historian,
who has discovered and counted the voting-papers,
therefore accuses the Chancellor of having falsified the
returns of the ballot, of having lent himself to a sharp
piece of juggling, and of having led the Gallican Church
into error.^

At this same important session the Chancellor, on the
King's behalf, forbade anyone to speak directly or in-

1 Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xix. c. 2, 6. Mansi_, xxvi. p. 90. Du Boulay,
iv. p. 848. Bourgeois du Chastenet, p. 51.

2 These notes were published by Douet-d'Arcq^ Choiaa des pieces inedites,
i. pp. 142-149. French History Society (1863). Cf. Jarry, Louis de
France, pp. 207, 439.

As to the divisions of opinion at this time_, see a letter of one of
Benedict's confidants, recently discovered by Father Ehrle in a Vatican
MS. (Archiv., vii. p. 102).

3 La France et le grand Schisme d'Occident, iii. p. 178. An important
document published by Father Ehrle {Archiv., vii. p. 79) says : " Non
fuerunt publicatae voces in substractione quando fuit facta, quia multi, ut
dicitur, erant contradicentes."

159

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

directly against the decisions adopted. The Duke of
Berry went further. " Whoever," he said, " is rash
enough to venture upon such an attack will be deprived
of his benefice, if he is a member of the clergy. If he
be a layman, he shall be handed over to the secular arm
for exemplary punishment." ^ Thus exaggerated threats
were used to uphold an illegitimate decision, which the
energy of Benedict would make futile.

A few days later, on August 8, Charles VI. declared
the collations made by the Pope '^ null and void, and
placed the confirmation of monastic appointments in
the hands of the bishops.^

On August 22, an organic law ordained that, during
the withdrawal of obedience, all records should date from
the year of Benedict's election and no longer from the
current year of his pontificate.* France hoped not to
be alone, and to drag several other kingdoms of the West
in her defection.

Thus the rupture between the Court on the one hand,
and the Avignon Pontiff on the other, was a fait accompli.
But what would the French cardinals do ?

On the first of September, two royal councillors,
Robert Cordeher and Tristan du Bosc, arrived at Ville-
neuve, near Avignon, to notify the Pope of the Royal
decrees. They had them pubUshed at once, and ordered
all French subjects, whether clergy or lay-folk, to
abandon the Avignon obedience. Most of the cardinals
did not hesitate : they came to join the royal envoys at
Villeneuve and gave their adhesion to the withdrawal
of obedience. Nevertheless seven of them refused :

1 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xix. c. 2. Bourgeois du Chastknet, p. 52.

2 Mart^ne et DuRAND, Thesaurus, ii. p. 1158.

3 Chronic, c. 4. Archives nat., J. 508, f. 291.
* Mart^ne et DuRAND, loc. cif.

160

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

five took refuge in the palace of the Doms with the Pope,
and two withdrew to their own homes. ^ All who had
posts at the pontifical court imitated the example of the
majority of the Sacred College, and the citizens of
Avignon also gave up the side of Benedict, who began
to fortify himself in the palace of the Doms. How was
he to be forced to recognise the decisions of the Council ?
In the South of France there was at this time an
impecunious adventurer whose violent and warHke
nature had already won him an unenviable reputation.
Ready for every desperate enterprise, even the most
disreputable, he was above all covetous of ecclesiastical
property. It was natural that such a highwayman
should eagerly seize an opportunity which was so
favourable to making a fortune without running much
risk.^ Still he was a king's chamberlain, and bore a
name that his eldest brother was to make famous. He
was Geoffrey de Boucicault.^

1 Ehrle, p. 424. Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xix. c. 8. Cf. P. Doiz^,
Etudes religieuses, 1903^ p. 378.

^ Valois, iii. p. 194.

^ Froissabt, xvi. p. 121. Oue can hardly understand how Froissart,
Jouvenel des Ursins, and many other historians after them, made the
mistake of identifying the great Boucicault with the common condottiere.
his younger brother. PVoissart, too, was a friend of Peter d'Ailly, and
must have been informed by him about the siege of Avignon, and the
embassy, of which, he says, the bishop was in charge.

At this time, John de Boucicault was at war, in the King's name, witli
the Count de Pe'rigord, and had taken forcible possession of the castle in
which his enemy had taken refuge (at the end of 1398, and beginning of
1399). Immediately afterwards he was sent to defend the Greeks against
the onslaughts of Bajazet. So that he could not have been in command
of the army that laid siege to, and then blockaded, the city of the Popes.
The Memoires of John de Boucicault, written by a contemporary, do not
allude to the fact. It is scarcely to be understood how the cardinals took
GeoiFrey into their pay. It is he who imprisoned, and, in October 1398,
disgracefully ransomed the cardinals of Pampeluna and St Adrian.
Appointed governor of the Dauphine in 1399, he was guilty of innumer-
able exactions, caused numerous complaints, and was excommunicated in
L 161

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

It was this mercenary blade who was summoned by the
cardinals to their aid to treat the citizens of Avignon and
the cardinals who were in revolt against the Pope with
a high hand. Geoffrey came at once, and, at his call,
from the mountains of Auvergne, Velay, and Vivarais,
down swept all the adventurers who, ten years previously,
under the command of Raymond, were all that was left of
the Great Bands of hired braves who, to the number of
three thousand, had formerly laid siege to Urban V.
at Avignon. The investment of the papal city was
about to begin.

Let us go back for a moment and inquire by what
right the King and clergy had decided on the withdrawal
of obedience. Many theologians and politicians of those
days believed in the justice of this rigorous measure.
The utility and the policy of the action were discussed
rather than its lawfulness. If, at the Council of 1398,
we Hsten to Benedict's accusers, Simon de Cramaud,
Peter le Roy, and Peter Plaoul, all their arguments may
be summed up thus : The Pope promised on his oath to
agree to cession ; but he is obstinate, and is suspected
of heresy and schism. Hence it is not only lawful, but
desirable and even necessary, to refuse to obey him.
This withdrawal is the only way to secure union, for it
is France that provides Benedict with all the indispens-

1404 by the Archbishop of Vieniie (Chevalier^ Le Mystere des trois
Doms, p. 735). Later on, in 1424^ Geoffrey was prosecuted by the Kiiig-'s
command, for his crimes and misdeeds {Ilistoire de Languedoc, ix. p.
1077, Ed. 1885). In 1426 he begged and obtained from Martin V.
complete pardon for the offences and depredations he had committed with
his accomplices at Avignon and the county in 1398. This ruffian^s
repentance and resolution of amendment did not last long, for he began
his outrages in the province at the beginning of 1428. He died in 1420.

Cf. Ehrle, Archiv., v. p. 465. Ohevalier, Bulletin d'histoire eccl. de
Valence (1884-1885), p. 129. Delaville le Roulx, La France en Orient,
i. p. 189.

162

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

able supplies. Taking them away from him is to
deprive the Schism of its advocates, upholders, and
advisers.

The King, continued these disrespectful prelates, has
the right to resolve on withdrawal without troubhng
about the Pope's opposition. For, if all the faithful are
bound to do their utmost to restore unity to the Church,
still more so are all Christian princes. There is no need
of a citation or a suit or a sentence, since Benedict's
crime is notorious. Moreover, law provides many ways of
obviating the disadvantages that might result from this
revolt.^ They could do without the Pontiff and apply
to the primates for reserved cases, dispensations for
marriages, nominations of bishops, etc.'^ Such, then,
was the unfortunate position of the Church. She was
abandoned by the King, and the conduct of Charles and
his councillors was considered as just and lawful by the
prelates themselves. Already, twenty years previously,
Charles V. had supported the rebel cardinals when the
election of a fresh Pope was in question. To-day,
Charles' son allied himself with the Sacred College to
overthrow the successor of the Pontiff whom his father
had recognised and upheld. From the election at Fondi,
the intruded Pope of Avignon had put himself under the
patronage of the King of France. To-day the sovereign,
who only ought to be an external bishop, became a
Pope within. Secular authority took the sway over
men's consciences and claimed to withdraw them from
pontifical power.

Through a phenomenon that was happily almost
unique in its history, our country was about to break

* Bourgeois du Chastenet_, p. 15. Preuves, p. 17 ff. Gf. Ehrle,
Archw., vii. p. 72.

2 Ehrle, Ibid., pp. 92 and 103.

163

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

off all relations with the supreme authority in religion
of its own accord. It had never recognised the Pope of
Rome, and was about to repudiate him of Avignon.

It would be necessary to trace down our annals to the
worst days of the Revolution before France would see a
similar crisis, and become at the same time witness and
victim of so strange a situation. For five years the
power of the Pope was non-existent so far as she was
concerned.

It may be declared and affirmed that the King of
France, or rather those who spoke in his name, evidently
outran their authority. No doubt the Avignon Pope
was doubtful in law, but in fact the GaUican Church
had formally recognised him several times. In breaking
with Benedict, France made a schism within the Schism,
and sowed the germs of division, which were formulated
at Constance in 1415, and at Paris in 1682. The
assembly of 1398 inaugurated a sort of civil constitution
of the clergy, and prepared the way for a kind of national
Church in the narrowest and most schismatic sense of the
word, a Church like that of Byzantium, Moscow, or
London. It paved the way for the despotic proceedings
that Napoleon would afterwards carry out with regard

to Pius VII.

It went even farther than the Emperor dared to go.
What can be said of this order issued by the Council of
Paris in 1398 ? " As to those who scruple in conscience
as to obeying the decree of withdrawal, it is laid down
that they are bound to conform to the King's resolution,
and to put their scruples on one side, and if they would
not do so, the King would provide for it, and ought so to
provide." Thus, everything that was taken from the
Pope was benevolently granted to the King, Charles VI.,
the least intelligent prince who had ever ruled in France.

164

THE WITHDRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

He it was who thus laid violent hands on people's
consciences, and became the chief director of souls, and
claimed to point out to the clergy themselves what they
ought to believe about the gravest matters. Without
the least scruple he was granted an infallibility that was
laic, but unlimited. The monarch, or rather the high
chancellor of France, thus was made for five years the
arbiter of the Church, and her director in all her ways,
and acted as if he were the real French Pope.^

1 Dv BouLAY, iv. pp. 882, 883.

165

CHAPTER IX

THE CHURCH OF FRANCE DURING THE WITH-
DRAWAL OF OBEDIENCE

§ 1. The Siege of Avignon,

Avignon was not only the sumptuous abode of the
French Popes, the city ringing with a thousand belfries ;
it was also a first-class fortress, of which the massive
towers and battlemented walls, four yards thick, even
to-day astonish the world. The ready pen and quick
imagination of a child of Provence thus describes the
city of the Popes : " Nations drank at the Rhone," says
Mistral ; " churches, chapels, and oratories were counted
there by thousands. In continual motion the carillons
of a hundred belfries resounded joyfully all through the
town, and during the night the corners of the streets
shone with illuminated madonnas.

" Astride of the rocky escarpment, the enormous castle
that reaches the clouds flung into the sky the colossal
mass of its seven hard stone towers, the mouldings of
which looked like those of a habitation for giants. The
colossal structure was reflected in the river that flowed
below it, and its height commanded the vast surrounding
plain. Striding over the swollen Rhone, like a road of
triumphal arches, a stone bridge of unheard-of height and
length linked together France and Provence, Villeneuve
and Avignon. When the awful sounds of the mistral

166

THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

made themselves heard over the city, you would have
said that God's breath was on its way to distribute the
Pope's blessing amongst the nations." ^

The pontifical palace is to-day one of the wonders of
mediaeval architecture and the glory of Avignon.
" Both fortress and monastery, prison and palace, the
provisional residence of the Popes is curiously like a
faithful picture of the lot that befell the Papacy in
France, and of its declension. It is at once a pontifical
prison and a feudal castle of the period when the chiefs
of Christendom took without blushing the role of vassal
to the King of France, and the title of Count of Venaissin
and Avignon." ^ If at any time this was a true picture,
it was so when Geoffrey de Boucicault came to besiege
and then to blockade Benedict XIII. in the palace
built by Benedict XII. and strongly fortified by
Clement VII.

In September 1398, Avignon, as has been said, was by
no means inclined to make resistance.^ The people of
the town cried out loudly that they neither could nor
would maintain a war against France. Benedict
answered them : " Your city is strong and well-
provisioned. Defend yourselves. Sooner or later I
shall get relief from Aragon, my native country, or

1 Mistral, Nerto, a Provencal tale.

'^ Pastor, Histoire des Papes, i. p. 98.

^ It has been said that Froissart's otherwise picturesque story of
Peter d^Ailly's embassy at Avignon, just before the siege began, to
deliver an ultimatum in the name of the King of France, is untenable (xvi.
p. 121). This account has been refuted by Ehrle {Archiv., 1889, v. pp.
394-492). Of. History of the Councils, Hefele, 2nd Ed. German by Alois
Knoepfler, (Freibourg, 1890), vi. p. 855, n. 2. The Chronic. Karoli VI.
does not speak of this embassy. No doubt Froissart confused it with the
mission of the month of April, spoken of in the last chapter, p. 168.
See an interesting letter of King Martin of Aragon in Dollinger^
Beitr'dge, iii. 353.

167

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

from elsewhere. I will be responsible for the defence
of my palace." ^

Indeed, the energetic Pontiff was ready. He had
long before had the formidable papal castle put into
a state of defence. The halls in which Petrarch had
sung resounded with the cries of sentries ; cupboards,
formerly filled with precious manuscripts, were stored
with swords and bolts ; and the Gothic windows with
their broad bays, whence John XXII. and Urban V.
delighted in watching the majestic banks of the Rhone,
were changed into narrow loop-holes, whence Benedict's
two hundred Aragon soldiers surveyed and disturbed the
besiegers.

Thanks to the efforts of Boucicault and his adventurers,
the county of Venaissin was in full revolt ; the people of
Avignon cared little about the defence of their Pontiff ;
either of their own accord or under pressLue they openly
took the side of the fugitive cardinals. They opened
their gates to the enemies' troops, committed more than
one act of violence, and joined in the attack on the
fortified palace. The Cardinal of Neufchatel, forgetful
of his dignity and of the oaths that bound him to the
Pope, went further than all the others, riding through
the town on horseback and in armour, and exciting
the people to rebellion. x\ll the people vied with one
another in crying out, " Long live the Sacred College."
" Long live the city of Avignon." ^ A few days later
the Cardinal was himself smitten with fatal sickness,
and many thought his sudden death was a divine
punishment. The mines had been carried below the
towers, and bombards and crossbows were incessantly

* Chronic. Karoli VI. , lib. xix. c. 8 ; lib. xx. c. 5. Mart^ne et
DuRAND, Vet. Script, v'u., Preface, p. Ixii. Baluzk, ii. p. 1122.
2 Of. EiiRLK, V. p. 427 ; vii. pp. 180, 2.34. Baluze, ii. p. 1123.

168

THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

discharging great stones and bolts. Benedict, who
energetically directed the defence, was wounded by the
splinter of a stone in one of these attacks. Wherever
he turned, there was no ruler inclined to give him con-
solation or afford him help.

Indeed, many princes and towns had followed the
example of France, and forsaken their obedience to the
Pontiff of Avignon.

Mary, Queen of Naples, had abandoned him ; ^
Castile and Navarre henceforward refused to obey ;
in the North, Cambrai and Besangon, depending on the
Empire, broke the bonds that tied them to Benedict.
On the other hand, his confessor St Vincent Ferrier
had not been willing to be shut up with him in the
citadel the French were endeavouring to capture. He
strongly disapproved this armed resistance. Every-
thing seemed to be wanting to Benedict at the same time,
and the fortress of Avignon, which he had so well pro-
vided with food and arms, was every day more closely
pressed. A vast store of wood had been burnt by the
Greek fire that was flung by the besiegers, helped by
the revolters ^ of Avignon ; the garrison was unable to
cook its food, fresh provisions were wanting, wine and
remedies were lacking, and illness began to spread
amongst the besieged.

The obstinate Pontiff then seemed to be ready to
negotiate. Three of the cardinals who had remained
with him,^ on October 24, had an interview with three
who had left him, to come to an arrangement. They could
not come to terms : the treacherous Geoffrey de Bouci-
cault kept the three negotiator cardinals as hostages

^ Vet. Script, nova collectio, vii. p. 600 ff.
^ Cf. Ehrle, vii. pp. 68 and 200.
3 Ibid., vii. p. 70.

169

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

in his camp, and held them in captivity in his castle at
Borbon, where he usually resided.^ They were the
Cardinals of Pampeluna, Buyl, and St Adrian.

On the 26th of the same month, a captain of Geoffrey's
troops, named Richard, nearly took the castle by
surprise. He had found that it was possible to get into
the place by the kitchen drains. He had the audacity
to slip in through this opening, and his men followed
him one by one. A victory was about to spring out of
these hollow recesses, when the soldiers of the Pope,
warned, as by miracle, says the chronicle,^ came up and
seized these rash assailants. A little later they dis-
covered the mines, and hindered the besiegers from
blowing up the walls of the castle of the Doms.

On the other hand, an attempt made by some Cata-
lonians, who were the Pope's friends, to raise the blockade
of the town by using the Rhone water, had miserably
failed. Geoffrey made no headway, but death was
decimating Benedict's troops. Nearly a hundred people
had been victims of the hostihties, and the besiegers
were as tired as the besieged of the ravages and slowness
of the siege. They agreed to cease hostilities on both
sides and to conclude a temporary truce.

§ 2. Paris Opinion becomes more Moderate,

Meanwhile three cardinals, those of Preneste,^ Thury,
and Saluces, betook themselves to Paris to compass
fresh rigorous measures against the besieged Pontiff.
But pubHc opinion had changed, and the ideas of the
King and court had undergone a complete revolution.

1 Ifnd.j V. p. 429 ; vii. pp. 70 and 180.
■^ Ihid., vii. p. 198.

^ This was Guy de Malesset, who in 1383 had ^iven up his title of
Cardinal of Poitiers for that of Preneste.

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THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

There was no wish to carry things to extremes, and the
partisans of violence daily became fewer.

The three members of the Sacred College were received
more than coldly by the nobles and people, who so far
forgot themselves as to insult them openly.^

The prelates, indeed, had not hesitated to pronounce
Benedict guilty of heresy, injustice, perjury, and dis-
soluteness. They had accused him of bringing dishonour
upon the office of Pope. Such conduct towards the
Pontiff whom they had helped to elect, and the excessive
care of the cardinals for their own interests, conduced
to bring back public sympathy to the persecuted and
wronged Pope.

On February 20, 1399, an assembly of the clergy was
held at Paris.'^

The King began by asking for subsidies to meet the
expenses incurred by the business connected with the
union of the Church. The prelates granted tithe payable
by all holders of benefices and even from monasteries
that were exempted ; but at the same time they de-
manded that the clergy, and not the King's officers,
should be entrusted with collecting it. The Dukes
accepted the proposal, at the same time remarking that
the sum thus obtained would not be sufficient. More-
over, and perhaps by way of compensation, the prelates
of their own accord abolished all the debts they had to
pay to the apostolic Chamber, as well as all expectancies,
whether they came from Clement or from Benedict. The
cardinals protested energetically, but without success.

^ Chronic. Karoli VI. , lib. xix. c. 12 ; lib. xx. c. 2.

2 The monk of St Denis' narrative only hints part of the truth. The
true character of this meeting comes out in the letter of one of the clergy,
apparently on the side of the dissentient cardinals. It was written from
Paris, and addressed to the members of the Sacred College who had stayed
in Avignon. Ehrle, p. 41.

171

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

The University showed itself particularly eager in
making claims on behalf of its partisans. More than
a thousand of them were on the Hsts of benefices pre-
sented to the Pope (rotuli). Every day they made
clamorous and fresh demands in the midst of the
assembly. Certain prelates, as full of shame as of
sorrow, left the meeting before it ended.^

In fine, this assembly had only to do with material
interests. The prestige and authority of the clergy
gained nothing at it. Royal pretensions increased
directly in proportion to episcopal surrenders. The
ambition of princes and the cupidity of courtiers were
unlimited."

Besides this, religious opinion began to be uneasy as
to the treatment that was meted out to him whom the
majority of Frenchmen still regarded as the true Pope.
Furthermore, the chivalrous side of the several months'
defence regained for Benedict the affection that his
obstinacy had previously caused him to forfeit. No
doubt the Pope enclosed at Avignon had a precarious
position, " but he was not easily aghast at trifles," says
Froissart, " and he kept within the palace, which is the
fairest and the strongest house in the world, and the
easiest to defend."

On the other hand, the friends whom Benedict had
kept were not discouraged. The ambassadors of King
Martin of Aragon =^ to the King of France had passed by
way of Avignon and had seen themselves the distress of

^ EuRLB; Jbid.f p. 43.

2 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xx. c. 2. Of. Lesqueux et Mollat, Mesurts
fiscales exercees en Bretagne par les Papes d' Avignon, Annales de Bretagne,
11J03, lleiines.

3 Ehrle, vii. p. 15 fF., gives many details about this prince's part from
1397. He continued the constant defender of Benedict. Of. Zurita,
Annales de la corona de Aragon, x. p. 491.

THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

the Pope. When they reached Paris, they gave an
account of it to the court of King Charles. The King
made the Pontiff proposals of peace, which were taken
to Avignon by ambassadors.

On April 4, 1399, they offered them to Benedict that
he might confirm their arrangements. Benedict, driven
by necessity, in fact accepted the following points on
April 10 :—

" If his opponent Boniface renounced the tiara, or
died, or was driven out, the Pontiff of Avignon would
abdicate in turn, so as to allow of the election of an
undisputed Pope. If a meeting was held for securing
union, Benedict would be bound to attend it.^ In
return, Charles was pledged to take Benedict under his
protection with a hundred of his supporters, and to have
him treated in a manner worthy of his rank. But it
was stipulated that the Pope should not leave the
pontifical residence without permission." The pre-
liminaries of agreement were drawn up in these terms :
prisoners were exchanged, the cardinals of Pampeluna
and St Adrian were given up after having paid a
ransom of 18,000 francs to the greedy Geoffrey, and the
siege was changed into a kind of blockade. Benedict
was to be confided to the keeping of the Duke Louis of
Orleans, the King's brother, who was very devoted to
him and had taken a great part in these negotiations.'^

For four and a half years the Pontiff would thus
remain a captive, and the question of unity was not to
advance by a single step. Partial assemblies, long and
learned dissertations, dark intrigues, embassies of
cardinals and courts, and prolix discussions only resulted

^ EhrjlEj v. p. 488. Mart^ng et Durand, vii. col. 6*36 ff.
-^ Douet-d'Arcq, Choix de pieces inedites, i. p. 203. Jarry_, Louis de
France, Due d' Orleans , p. 22-5.

173

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

in drawing much sympathy to the persecuted Pontiff,
and in increasing the ever-growing number of adver-
saries of the withdrawal of obedience, the advantages
of which were clear to nobody.^

A correspondence, in August 1S99, sent to Avignon
from Paris by an agent of Benedict's, throws a great
deal of hght on the situation of the Pope as well as on
the state of mind of the French at this time. This
document, recently discovered by Father Ehrle in the
Vatican Archives,^ fills the lacunae in the rare official
reports that remain of these facts. Composed of very
different materials, it was probably destined to provide
the substance of a memorial which the Pope meant to
address to his faithful friend the Duke of Orleans. I
give a brief analysis : " All that is done against Benedict
takes place in the name of the King and of the dukes.
Therefore the royal family, noble and ancient as it is,
becomes responsible for it at the bar of history. For
the love of God, in the name of godliness, humanity,
and religion, be on your guard. If you succeed in
saving the Pope from a cruel and disgraceful death, you
will win immortal glory."

Benedict's confidant enumerates, from the beginning
of the siege of Avignon, the sacrilegious murders that
accompanied the invasion, the acts of depredation and
violence, the threats addressed to the inhabitants in
the King's name, and the insults hurled at the Pontiff
himself. Then he relates at length all the circumstances
of the investment of the place, and gives interesting
details about the meeting of the clergy, which resolved
on the withdrawal of obedience.

" If Benedict dies," he adds, " or if cession is forced
upon him, the position of the Church will be as bad as it

1 Ehrle, vii. p. 102. ^ /^^^.^ p, 59,

174

THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

was under Celestine V., Boniface VIII., or John XXII.
Let the Duke of Orleans readily accept the undertaking
of watching over the Pope. Above all, this work should
not be given to the dissentient members of the Sacred
College."

The unknown author of the document then makes a
very unflattering portrait of the Cardinal of Amiens, and
especially of Cardinal Thury, whom he paints as avari-
cious, jealous, intriguing, and as particularly anxious to
occupy the pontifical throne. It is he who falsified
the messages which the Pope had intended for the King,
and sent false letters from Paris to Avignon in the name
of the royal council. " Benedict is better than they,"
he adds, " he has not fallen into the nepotism of his
predecessor. If he is imprisoned or put to death, let
the kingdom of France beware ! ^ It should have
repented of the ill-treatment accorded by Philip to Pope
Boniface ; and still greater chastisement would have
been inflicted on us, had not the Pontiffs of Avignon
protected our country. Even now the French king's
people treat Benedict as if he were a Jew or a Saracen ;
they persecute him in every possible way in his besieged
palace."

Finally the author enumerates the means to be used
to hft the Church and the Pope out of this false and
dangerous situation.

This humble anonymous writer appears to me to give
very valuable information as to the Pontiff's state of
mind, and also as to that of certain cardinals, of some
princes, and of all the principal actors in the great
drama, the slow vicissitudes of which were being un-
folded both at Avignon and Paris.

^ Ehrle, vii. pp. 83 and 84.

175

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

§ S. Negotiations at Avignon and Rome,

The Duke of Orleans,to whom doubtless this memorial
was sent, cherished an intention of acting in accordance
with the wishes expressed by Benedict, but above all
he held to the Pope giving in his submission. He
wanted the Pontiff to be obliged to condescend to all the
wishes of the dukes, his uncles, and of the royal council.

Even in captivity Benedict took the highest care of
his pontifical dignity. In October 1S99 he declined
the proposals of the Duke of Orleans with courtesy but
with resolution. He accepted him as correspondent
and friend, and even up to a certain point as protector,
but he would not admit the troublesome patronage of
the French court.^

At the end of 1399, or at the beginning of 1400,
Benedict gave the Duke this reply through his ambas-
sadors : " If I submit to the King's desires," he said,
" I am sure to draw upon myself the animadversions
of the Kings of Castile and Aragon, who are my pro-
tectors. On the other hand, the cardinals will not allow
this decision to be left in the hands of a layman, and
will not hesitate to reproach me for it. Lastly, among
the royal councillors I have some determined enemies
who will certainly oppose all suggestions that can be
made." -

In conclusion, he asked the Duke to come to Avignon
himself, or at any rate to get him letters of safe-conduct
signed by the King.

Louis d'Orleans showed that he was little pleased with

1 Ehrlk, vii. p. 123 fF. The unedited papers printed by Father Ehrle,
of which we ^ive a summary, acquaint us with a number of incidents in
the captivity of Benedict which were hitherto unknown, and also with the
whole set of negotiations between the Pope and France.

* EnRLE, vii. p. 127. Cf. Mart^nk et l)i kand, vii. col. G61.

176

THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

this reply, which was too vague for his Kking, and also
with the pride that neither persecutions nor misfortunes
had been able to destroy. He asked the Pope afresh by
his ambassador, Peter Beauble, Bishop of Uzes, whether
he agreed to submit to the conditions originally proposed,
yes or no, and whether he would meet the expense that
would be incurred by the sending of a bodyguard
(March 1400).

In a carefully calculated reply, Benedict informed
the Duke that he accepted the second request, but that
he wanted time for ripe reflection as to the first. On
receiving fresh entreaties from the envoy, he replied
that in July he would inform the Duke of his decision by
trustworthy intermediaries.

As a matter of fact, on July 31, the Pope sent to Paris
three monks commissioned to set forth to Louis
d'Orleans all the sorrow and shame of his position.
With all the forms of respect demanded by the necessity
of the moment, Benedict declined the royal proposal
afresh, and refused to submit unconditionally. At
last the King of France consented to send official letters
of safe- conduct for the Pope and the hundred persons
in his retinue, and ordered the Duke of Orleans to
protect the Pontiff (October 18, 1400).^ Without going
into tedious details of the negotiations that then ensued,
let us recall one or two salient facts. A council was
proposed at Metz, but the project broke down ; '^
another attempt to assemble the bishops of the party of
Avignon met with no better success. The dissentient
cardinals persisted in their distrustful and contemptuous
attitude towards the papal prisoner ; and they had
little regard for the King's intentions, though they
energetically repudiated the charge of trying to annoy

1 Ehrle, vii. p. 187 if. ^ md^^ pp, 55 and 160.

M 177

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Benedict and his captive companions with disrespect.
The Pontiff's situation became daily worse, long
memorials were exchanged to no purpose, pacific
proposals came to nothing ; they merely marked time
and beat the air. At the beginning of 1402, such were
the difficulties amidst which the Avignon Papacy was
discussed.

And what had become of the Pope of Rome on his
side ? Events in France have caused us to lose sight
of what was going on at the same period in Italy. Had
Boniface regained all the authority and prestige that
had been lost by his rival ? Had he agreed to accept
the way of cession, which Wenceslas, in agreement with
Charles, had tried to force upon him ? How had his
relations with the King of the Romans and the electors
of the Empire turned out ?

When Wenceslas, at the time of the interview at
Reims, consented to request voluntary abdication from
the two Popes, Boniface felt that his position was
becoming perilous and precarious. To win back the good
graces of the King of the Romans, he offered him the
imperial crown (September 4, 1398).^ Wenceslas, more
and more brutahsed by drunkenness and debauchery,
made no reply to these advances. Apparently, from
this time onwards, folly and error constantly increased
their hold on the mind of this sorry monarch. The
elector-princes of the Rhine there and then resolved to
get rid of Wenceslas, and were not hopeless as to getting
Boniface to approve of their conspiracy. The head of
this redoubtable opposition was Robert of Bavaria, who
openly aimed at obtaining the Empire.

It was in vain that the King of the Romans, at
length growing uneasy, sought to assemble the diets, to

^ Lindner, ii. p. 365.

178

THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

arouse the nobles to draw the sword and his subjects to
defend themselves. Even his relations abandoned him.
His brother Sigismund, who was at war in Moravia, on
his own account, scarcely thought of helping him. The
electors went so far as to arraign Wenceslas at the bar of
their tribunal, and to wish to sit in judgment on their
own chief. It was not only in the Church, but in the
Empire, that subversive and revolutionary ideas pre-
vailed. The King of the Romans refused to submit to
these orders, and the electors regarded themselves as
thenceforward freed from their oath of fealty. They
met not far from Coblentz, in a little chapel that exists
still, and impeached Wenceslas. They reproached him
with having injured the Empire, committed horrible
cruelties, and with not having secured the peace of the
Church, and condemned him as a " useless, stupid, and
worthless holder of the Holy Roman Empire." ^

On August 20, 1400, the Archbishop of Mayence
solemnly read the sentence of deposition, and then
next day the prince- electors met at Koenigstuhl and
chose Count Robert of Bavaria to succeed him. He
was crowned at Cologne on Jan. 6, 1401.

No doubt Robert was more able, worthy, and moral
than Wenceslas ; but the illegal and revolutionary
character of his election was sahent, and could not be
excused by the stupid, coarse, and tyrannical doings of
him whom he replaced.

Moreover, the Roman Pope at first refused to recognise
the choice of the electors and to crown Robert. It was
only at the close of 1403, after a number of tergiversa-
tions and negotiations, that Boniface pronounced in
favour of the new King of the Romans, and confirmed
the deposition of Wenceslas. For his part, Robert

1 Janssen^ Frankfurt's Reichscorrespondenx , i. p. 56.

179

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

promised to use all his forces for the advancement of the
Catholic Church. Perhaps from conviction, in any
case through gratitude and personal interest, he thought
himself henceforward bound to recognise the Roman
Pope as alone legitimate, and to defend him in all
circumstances.

Thus religious peace was more and more set back,
since the new Emperor brought Boniface forces at
least as powerful as those offered by the King of France
to his rival, in restoring him the obedience of which he
had been deprived for five years.

§ 4. What becomes of Authority in the Church ?

At the date now reached, in 1403, the Avignon Pope
is in a state of semi- captivity and kept a prisoner, never
out of sight of his palace, while his Roman rival has just
concluded with the new King of the Romans a peace, the
precarious and dubious character of which is concealed
from nobody. It is the sharpest moment of the crisis
of the great Schism.

Looking higher, the Christian may ask himself this
sad question that closely touches the faith itself :

In such critical circumstances, in the midst of the
Schism and of the withdrawal of obedience, what
became of the supreme authority wherewith Jesus
Christ had indued His Church. Is the captive of
Avignon, or the helpless Roman Pontiff, the unique
depositary of the authority granted by the Divine
Foimder ? Is the half of the Church, which in reality
does not cleave to the true Pontiff, at that time known
to God alone, really a schismatic section, and therefore
deprived of rights of jurisdictions, especially that of

180

THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

giving absolution, which belongs to the legitimate
hierarchy only ? Can it be that this half had reached
the point of losing the very power of conferring the
Sacrament of Order and the valid consecration of the
sacraments ? ^

There is no need for piety and faith to take alarm.
God has never taken away from a considerable portion
of His Church, led astray by its bishops into errors of
fact made in good faith, the power of the keys and of the
benefits depending on its exercise. The Pope, whoever
he may then be, is at least possessed of what canon law
calls a coloured title, in these conditions of general and
practically invincible error, perfectly adequate for the
administration of the sacraments, and for keeping and
conferring exterior jurisdiction.

The faithful are mistaken as to who is the head perhaps,
but what does it matter ? Their error is involuntary,
and their good faith perfect. The sacraments they
receive are efficacious, because administered by true
priests : and the authority they acknowledge produces
all its legal effects.

The instructions given by the national Synod, held at
Paris in February 1395, exactly show this position :
'' In the great schisms of the past," they said, " it was
clear and plain that one was intruded, however much
he may have been upheld in fact by some nobles. But
now, however false the intruder's party may be, it is
nevertheless highly specious and based on different
documents and arguments, and maintained by more
of the well-known clergy than there are under the
obedience of our holy father Benedict; and it is
certain that the two elect, at the beginning of

^ Exaggerated theses on this point have been sometimes maintained by
theologians of Avignon. C^f. Ehrle^ vii. p. 209.

181

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

the Schism, were elected by the whole College of
Cardinals." '

These quite peculiar circumstances were well appreci-
ated at the time by St Antoninus. He is specially
competent in these events, for he was long connected
with an eminent man, who was mixed up with all these
difficult matters, the blessed Cardinal John Dominici :
" No doubt it must be believed that there is only one
Church, and one vicar of Jesus Christ," wrote the
learned bishop. But in a schism, if it happens that
several Popes are elected, it is not necessary to salvation
to know that this or that one is the true Pontiff. It is
generally enough to be ready to obey him who has been
canonically elected. The faithful laity is not obliged to
know canon law : it can and should leave it to the
opinions of its superiors and prelates. The erring
Christian is then excused by an ignorance that is almost
invincible." '

Now let us listen to one of the best authorities among
recent theologians : " After a Pope has been elected,
and before liis death, or resignation, if a new election
takes place, it is schismatical and null. The newly-elect
does not belong to the apostolic succession. This is
what happened at the beginning of what is called,
not quite rightly,-^ " the Great Schism of the West,'' which
from a theological point of view was merely a schism
in appearance. Had two elections occurred at the
same or almost at the same time, one according to laws
that had previously been made, and the other against
them, the Pope elected according to law would be

1 Archives nationales, 5518, f. 84, verno. Cf. Valois, iii. p. 35.
- /S. Antonini Summa Histor., pars iii. tit. xxii. c. 2. Ibid., tit. xxiii.
c. 8.

3 Cf. Bouix, De Papa, i. p. 461.

182

THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

apostolical, and not the other ; and, even if there were
perplexities, doubts, disputes, and grievous ruptures
connected with the matter, as at the time of the so-called
Western Schism, it would not be less true, or less the fact,
that apostolicity would belong objectively to the true
Pope. What would it matter if this objectivity were not
plain to all, and if its general recognition only were to
occur long afterwards ? I know that treasures have been
bequeathed to me, but I do not know whether they are
to be found in the chest marked A or in the box B : am
I therefore any the less possessed of these treasures ? " ^

This opinion re-echoes that of the fifteenth century,
uttered by the great Archbishop of Florence, who was
publicly acclaimed as the " Antoninus of Counsel."

So, then, the well-spring of all saintliness, of all
legislative and judicial authority, was not dried up in
one half of the Church. The true Pope was present in
her ; he continued the mighty soul of this great body.
This governmental authority did not pass to the bishops,
nor to the multitude of priests and faithful laity, nor to
the University of Paris, nor to French or foreign princes,
sometimes too covetous of sacerdotal powers, as St
Ambrose said.

The sanctifying force in the Church lost nothing of its
efficacity. In this fatal period, dearth and war united
with religious difficulties to disturb mankind."^ Through
all the western nations, the Black Plague pursued its
devastating career, and seemed to corrupt all the sources
of natural life. The world, dismayed and downcast at
the combination of so many evils, seemed plunged in
despair. The Church alone remained standing, and
bearing in her holy hands the treasure of the sacraments

^ DiDioT^ Logique surnaturelle objective, No. 823 (Lille_, 1892).
2 DeniplEj La desolation des Eglises de France, ii. pp. 57-63.

183

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

that nourish, fortify and upHft, with divine consolation
and supernatural hope upon her lips. In this age of
disaster, as in the happier times of St Francis and St
Dominic, each of the two parts of the Church brought
forth and gave increase to those ripe products of
spiritual Hfe called Saints, and through them she revived
and healed and edified mankind.

If legislative and judicial power are considered, and
without these there can be no rule, how precarious they
were in the royal hands of those times ! The revolu-
tionary spirit had breathed over Christendom, and
from the time of Philippe le Bel it had weakened all
monarchies. In England it had produced Wi cliff e,
and in Bohemia was soon to give rise to John Huss.
These subversive doctrines were soon to pass into
actions. In England, Richard II. had just been de-
throned by his cousin Henry of Lancaster, who was
soon afterwards to have him assassinated. In Germany,
Wenceslas had just been unlawfully deposed and re-
placed by Robert of Bavaria, and was soon to be cast
into prison.

In Hungary, Ladislas and Sigismund disputed the
throne of St Stephen ; while in Castile, Henry of Trasta-
mare killed his brother, Peter the Cruel, with his own
hand.

In Navarre reigned Charles the Bad, whose name says
enough. In Aragon ruled Peter the Ceremonious, who
had the legate, who had been ordered to excommunicate
him, hung up by the feet.

In Italy, debauch gave rise to cruelty, and immorality
led on to murder. In January (1382), Jane of Naples,
protectress of Clement VII., had her first husband
strangled from the most shameful motives, and herself
died in 1382, stifled by the orders of her nephew. In

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THE CHURCH OF FRANCE

1S86 Charles de Duras fell assassinated at Naples by
Queen Elisabeth of Hungary, who is put to death in
turn by the ban of Croatia. In the north of the Penin-
sula, the Ghibeline Barnabo Visconti stained himself
with a multitude of debaucheries and cruelties, until his
nephew Galeas rid the country of him in 1385. Return-
ing to France, the picture becomes filled with more
detail, but gains nothing from the additions. Charles
VII. only had lucid intervals of sanity, and Isabel of
Bavaria casts away both her reputation and her realm.
The throne is as shaken as the altar.

In reading the account of all these tragic revolutions,
certain fine lines of Lucretius come to mind. He, too,
relates the different ills engendered by ambition, and
depicts the miserable existence of rulers, exposed to
envy like mountain summits to the thunderbolts.

Ergo regibus occisis sub versa jacebat

Pristina majestas soliorum et sceptra superba. . . .

"The kings are slain and the time-honoured majesty
of the throne is stricken down : proud sceptres lie
prone upon the earth, and the bloody crown laments its
disgrace." ^

In the Church, on the contrary, despite the troubles
arising from the Schism, the power of the tiara and the
keys remains undiminished in the midst of either
obedience. One of the two is doubtless in error, but its
wish is nevertheless to be faithful to the true successor
of St Peter. The true and divinely appointed hierarchy
continues its existence, and its authority circulates like
sap in the two parallel branches, which spring from the
same stock. Whoever is generally considered, through
a mistake that could hardly be helped, by the

1 De rerum natura, lib. v. 1134^ 1135.

185

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Christian people to be the true head of the body ecclesi-
astic, he gives his subordinates the same authority that
would be granted by the undisputed Popes, such as
Gregory VII. or Innocent III.^ Valid orders and valid
jurisdiction, then, were not wanting in the case of any
representative of Jesus Christ in the two spheres of
obedience. It was only later on that Peter de Luna,
when left by the whole Church and legitimately excluded
from the Papacy, remained without authority and was
reduced to the sad and ridiculous position of a solitary
and formal schismatic in the Church.

Thus the bond of moral and religious unity remained
unbroken among all the members, notwithstanding
the momentary division of the two obediences. There
was always una fides, unum baj)tisma, unum corpus,
in the sense of St Paul and Christ.

' Father Conrad Eubel, p. vi. of the Preface of his '^ Les Ordres
mendicants de Vohedience d^ Avignon (Paderborn, 1900), remarks that the
acts of government and grace of all the Popes of all these obediences
were respected alike by Martin V. and his first successors. Indeed, in
the official writings of the new Pontiffs, the former Popes are never
called Anti-popes, but thus designated : "^ called Popes in their own
obedience." Dr P. A. Kirsch, in the Archiv. fur hath. Kirchenrecht y
(1900, No. 2, p. 418), is clearly of this way of thinking. See also in the
Romische Quartalschrift (189G), a remarkable article by Eubel, on the
procedure followed during the Schism, when a bishop, appointed in one
obedience, went over to the other.

186

CHAPTER X

THE RESTITUTION OF OBEDIENCE

§ 1. Flight of the Pope of Avignon.

The University and the Court, France and foreign
countries, grew more and more uneasy at the abnormal
and intolerable situation of the Pope, who had but
lately been recognised as legitimate by almost the whole
of Western Europe. Until this troublous period it had
been the historical role of the eldest daughter of the
Church to deliver Popes from captivity when Lombard
kings or German emperors had temporarily brought
them into subjection. The world had not been at all
accustomed to the sight of a French king and princes
undertaking the responsibility of keeping the Vicar of
Jesus Christ in bondage.^

If the people wondered, the clergy showed that it was
dissatisfied with the heavy and novel charges that had
been imposed upon it since the sovereign had usurped
the place of head of the Church. On its side, the
University had manifested its discontent more than
once : ^ it was grieved to see its professors and members
less favoured in the matter of preferment since the
French bishops had taken the place of the Pope in the
distribution of favours. This learned corporation had

1 EhrlEj vii. p. 212. The Cardinal of Pampeluna's instructions to P.
Ravat, Bishop of Saint-Pons.

2 Ehrle^ p. 43. Denifle, Desolation des Eglisea de France, ii. passim.

187

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

even resumed its grand method of uttering protests,
and since 1400 it had suspended its lectures.^ Some
of its most honoured professors receded from the
position they had assumed with regard to withdrawal of
obedience : Gerson and Clemangis pubhshed letters and
writings in which they definitely demanded a return to
the obedience of Benedict.

The University of Toulouse was still more energetic.
Its deputies spoke before the King at Paris with such
vigour that the Duke de Berry, governor of Languedoc,
had them all imprisoned.' The University of Paris
repHed to this violent attack, and later on, the national
council thought it necessary to condemn the memorial
of the doctors from Toulouse.^ From another side, the
Bishop of Saint-Pons, Peter Ravat, had spoken ener-
getically and had dared to reproach the three cardinals,
who had attacked Benedict, for their deplorable dis-
loyalty : " If the Pope should die," he said to the King,
'' they could take no part in the election of his successor,
for they are guilty of high treason." * Moreover, the
other cardinals tended toward reconciliation with the
imprisoned Pontiff. The court itself was divided. If
the Dukes of Berry and of Burgundy were rooted in
their hostile sentiments towards Benedict, the Duke of
Orleans, the King's brother, continued to be the
chivalrous defender of the Pontiff.'' He understood
France's terrible responsibility, should harm happen

^ Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xx. 20. Du Boui^ay, iv. pp. 284 and 871.
Hefei^j Bistoire des Conciles, x. p. 120.

2 A number of manuscript documents referring to this period were
purchased by M. Leopold Delisle in 1899, at Lord Ashburnham's sale.
See the list in the Journal den Savants, June 1899.

^ Bourgeois du Chastenet, p. 234. Vaissettk, lib. xxxiii. t. ix.

^ Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xxiii. 1. Schwab, Johannea Gerson, p. Ifio.

^ Eh RLE, vii. pp. 0(3 and 92. Jouvenel des Ursins (Ed. Godefroy),
p. 135.

188

THE RESTITUTION OF OBEDIENCE

to the Pope during the too prolonged blockade. Violent
disputes on this question sometimes arose between them,
even at the most important meetings. In another
direction, the court of Castile and Aragon had just
succeeded in making the echo of their too well grounded
complaints as to the long captivity of the Avignon
Pontiff reach Paris. A reaction was in progress.

Benedict, encouraged by this sympathy, took advan-
tage of an opportunity for escape that presented itself.
A Norman knight who was entirely devoted to the Duke
of Orleans, Captain Robert de Bracquemont, was en-
trusted with guarding the Pope. He enjoyed the
privilege of free entry and exit of the palace at Avignon.
The clever captive hailed him, told him of his plan, and
secm*ed the captain's assistance.

In the evening of March 11, 1403, Benedict put on
borrowed attire, placed the Blessed Eucharist on his
chest, and a letter bearing the royal seal of Charles VI.
in his clothes, and boldly left the papal castle with three
companions. Under the guidance of the daring captain,
he successfully passed all the sentinels and reached a
house in the town where several French knights waited
for him and offered him their homage and their help.
With them he came up with an escort of four hundred
men, whom Braquemont was keeping in reserve. At
sunrise he embarked on the Rhone, then ascended
the Durance, and came to Chateau-Renard,^ under the
protection of the King of Sicily. When Avignon awoke,
it heard of the flight of the captive, and the population
allowed the rest of the Pope's servants to rejoin him.
The cardinals themselves and several bishops went to

1 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xxiii. c. 16. Cf, Ehrle, p. 449. Du
BouLAY gives March 16 as the date of the Pope's flight. This is
certainly an error.

189

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

offer to the Pontiff now at liberty the homage they had
sometimes refused him when in prison : they were
reeds swayed by every wind, said the Chronicler of
St Denis.^

The very day of his arrival at Chateau-Renard,
Benedict addressed the King of France, his council, and
the University in three letters of the same tenor. He
said to them in substance : " Our detention did not
bring about the peaceful results that were expected of it.
We have set ourselves free, and we give you notice
thereof, as of a thing whereat you should greatly rejoice.
We hope that divine grace will make our flight sub-
serve to the glory of God, and to the prosperity of the
Church, as well as to the honour of the royal house of
France." ^

Perhaps there is a touch of irony in the latter words,
addressed to those who had made him a captive. It
may seem to some that Pius VI., Pius VII., and Pius
IX., when leaving Rome in circumstances that recall
those just mentioned, afford a spectacle of a more
dignified and lofty character.

Yet Benedict knew how to show magnanimity. He
was reconciled with his cardinals (March 29, 1403), and
took no vengeance on the people of Avignon, who had
been so long in rebeUion, but who returned to their
obedience to the Pope with the same versatiKty as they
had shown in deserting him.^ The Pontiff repealed
all the censures pronounced against them, and only
obhged them to repair the ruins they had made in the
castle where he had defended himself with such
energy.

» Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xxii. c. 16. '^ Ibid.

3 Mart^ne et DuRAND, Thesaurus, ii. col. 1268. Ehrle, p. 449 ff.
Valois, iii. p. 331.

190

THE RESTITUTION OF OBEDIENCE

§ 2. The Question of Obedience.

At Paris, Benedict's good fortune produced the same
pacificatory results. The King and the dukes were not
really sorry for this ending of a situation that was a
greater perplexity to them than they cared to acknow-
ledge. The Pope of Avignon sent two cardinals, who
had not always been so favourable to him, to the court :
that is to say, Guy de Malesset and Cardinal de Saluces.
On being admitted to a royal audience, on May 25, the
former spoke and attacked the withdrawal of obedience
with both eloquence and vigour. " As long as it lasts,"
he said, " you can do nothing for union. Although this
step was taken to move the culpable obstinacy of
Benedict, yet it was resolved upon too lightly. I ask for
a modification of it, if not for its abolition."

These words were important, and called for a fresh
reconsideration of the rehgious pohcy of France : and
they were destined to bring it about, though not without
delay. The King repHed that for this matter he had
convened all the bishops of the realm, and that they
themselves would make their reply. Guy de Malesset
could not have spoken thus openly had he not been sure
that pubhc opinion was prepared for a revolution and
political stroke of this sort.

Gerson indeed was glad of the deliverance of Benedict,
and, in an eccentric comparison, he had likened it to
Jonas coming out of the whale.^ Peter d'Ailly, the
Bishop of Cambrai, whose name turns up at every
vicissitude in the great drama, had just brought out a
work on the religious crisis of the realm that had
attracted much attention. This writing is called De
materia concilii generalis. The writer divides his subject

1 Opp. Gersonii, ii. col. 147.

191

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

into three heads. The first deals with the matter and
form of the council which was to put an end to the
Schism. The second sets forth and clears up the
following question : Ought obedience to be given to
Benedict before the meeting of this council ? Finally,
the third had to do with reforms that were necessary in
the Church.i

According to Peter d'Ailly's ideas, this council con-
cerning obedience to Benedict ought to refrain from
dealing with matters of faith or questions of reform.
Nor should accusations of perjury, heresy, or schism,
brought against the Pope of Avignon, be submitted to
the Synod. The assembly should not look for new
means of coming to an agreement, as the three ways
already indicated were enough : but it should only
concern itself with guaranteeing liberty of discussion
and maintaining peace between the head and the
members.

There were to be no fresh rules, but merely the
application of common law and old ecclesiastical pre-
cedents. There was to be no intervention on the part
of civil authority, which was often so ready to encroach.

^ This treatise was thought by Baluze to be of such importance that he
had it copied afresh in 1687, after the MS. 820 Colbert. There are
three copies at the Bibl. Nationale (1480, 1571, and 3124). This work is
at least as important as Durand de Mende's more general treatise of the
same title. It is divided into three chapters : the first part has been
ascribed to Gerson and printed by Ellies-Dupin among the chancellor's
works (ii. col. 24) under the heading : De Goncilio generali uniua
obedientiae. The order of the ideas is not the same, but the substance is
almost identical. The second part is wholly unpublished. As for the
third, Peter d'Ailly reproduced it thirteen years later with slight
modifications, and presented it to the Council of Constance. It is
the famous treatise which Protestants have so often misemployed, en-
titled : Tradatus super reformatione Ecclesiae in Goncilio Constantienai .
Cf. Petrus de Alliaco, Pref. xxxii. and p. 120. It will be referred to
again later on in chaps, xv. and xviii.

192

THE RESTITUTION OF OBEDIENCE

Then the bishop attacked the question of the most
pressing practical importance : should obedience be
restored to Benedict before the meeting of the
council? He set forth with some prohxity the three
opinions then current. The first called for the immedi-
ate restitution of obedience pure and simple. Although
d'Ailly does not say so, this was the idea of Gerson and
the Duke of Orleans. The bishop supports this view
with a number of passages of canon law.

The second was absolutely contradictory, and denied
the necessity and even the propriety of restitution,
and relied on the charges brought against Benedict by
the three cardinals sent to Paris by the Sacred College in
1399.^ The offences with which it was attempted to
saddle the Avignon Pope have already been mentioned.
The Dukes of Berry and Burgundy, part of the doctors of
the University, and the patriarch Simon de Cramaud
were for maintaining the status quo.

Finally, the third view, which was to triumph in 1406
at the council, occupied the exact mean between the two
extremes and laid down certain distinctions. It sgiid :
There are rights, a pre-eminence, and honours due by
divine right to the Pope, because he is the head of
the universal Church. Others are accidental and at
times usurped to the prejudice of prelates and inferior
Churches : such are collations of bishoprics, reservations
for ecclesiastical benefices, and other recent privileges and
abuses, called rights of the Apostolic Chamber, which
were unknown to St Peter and his venerated successors.
Let the former privileges be restored to the Pope, for that
is just : but to give him the latter would be unjust and
harmful.

Long juridical arguments were used in support of this

^ See the preceding chapter.

N 193

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

opinion, and what is known of the character and other
works of d'Ailly leads one to conclude that the author
belonged to this third party.

The dissertation ends with this touching prayer :
" In this great diversity of opinions may the Lord Jesus
grant us to choose what He knows to be best and most
fitting for the honour of His Name and the salvation of
Holy Church ! Amen." ^

On account of these differences of opinion, the dis-
cussion might have continued long to no purpose, had
not the Duke of Orleans hastened matters with the
Bang's consent and put an end to the debates. He
ordered the metropolitans to collect the votes of their
subordinates secretly and in writing, then he assembled
the prelates at Paris on May 28, 1403, in the royal
mansion of St Paul's, while the King and his uncles, the
dukes, were away. The partisans of the restoration of
obedience were in a majority. As soon as Louis of
Orleans had ascertained this, he took care to inform the
King. Charles was glad and publicly gave his support to
this reparatory scheme (May 28, 140S). He took a
solemn oath, and had a formal record drawn up, and
ordered a Te Deum to be sung at Paris and St Denis.
In spite of the opposition of the King's uncles, the
University fell in with Charles' proposals by a large
majority.

The Bishop of Cambrai had been chosen to make a
solemn announcement of the restitution of obedience at
Notre-Dame in Paris. During the Mass which was said
by the Cardinal of Poitiers, Peter d'Ailly spoke before
the King, the dukes, the bishops, and a large congregation

' MS. 1480 of the Bibl. Nat., f. 108. I have given iio analysis of the
third part, which has been often printed (0pp. Gersonii, ii. p. 903), and
which, moreover, has nothing to do with the present subject.

194

THE RESTITUTION OF OBEDIENCE

(May SO, 1403). His discourse has not come down to us,
but the Chronicles of Charles VL, written by the monk
of St Denis, have preserved the articles of the agreement,
which he read in conclusion.

These were the conditions of the restitution of obedi-
ence : " The Pope undertook to accept the way of
cession, if his competitor came to abdicate, die, or be
deposed. He withdrew all his protests, and undid all
proceedings that had taken place during the withdrawal
of obedience, and forgave all offences done to his person.

" On the other hand, the nobles of France united with
the Duke of Orleans to beg the Pope to reduce the charges
on the churches of the kingdom, to approve and uphold
the collations and promotions made during the with-
drawal of obedience by the ordinary prelates.

" Benedict lastly undertook to convoke, within a year,
a council of all the prelates of his obedience to deal with
the restoration of union, reform in general, the liberties
of the Church, and the subsidies received by the Holy
See from France." ^

No doubt this last article was due to the personal
influence and the recent work of the learned Bishop of
Cambrai.

After this great demonstration the Cardinal de Thury
and several members of the University gave their
adhesion to the restitution of obedience. An important
embassy went to carry the happy news to the Pope.^
The Bishop of Cambrai and the Archbishop of Aix
appeared before Benedict to demand a speedy and

^Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xxiv. c. 6. Cf. Ennu:, vii. p. 280. He
publishes a copy of this document in French.

2 Ibid. , c. 8. MartJine et Durand, Thesaurus, ii. col. 1301. Appointement
final auquel sont d' accord le Conseil du roi et des eglises de France sur lefait
du Schisme (May 28, 1403). MS.^ Vatican Library, according to Mont-
PAUOON, Bibl. bibl. , i. p. 70.

195

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

complete fulfilment of his promises (September 1,
1903).

The restoration of obedience was conditional, and
everything depended on the way in which Benedict
conformed to the four articles of the agreement. Un-
fortunately the Pontiff's natural disposition soon gained
the upper hand. Daily he invented a subterfuge or
started a fresh difficulty. He showed himself more and
more cautious in word and tortuous in action. Some-
times he refused to confirm promotions made during the
withdrawal, and deprived persons of high character of
their benefices ; sometimes he burdened the Churches of
France and of the University ^ with taxes and tenths,
multipHed reservations and revived all the pretensions
that had but lately alienated the French clergy. He
refused to listen to his most intelligent and faithful
supporters.- His temporary successes seemed to have
made him only more arrogant and obstinate, and to
have bound him still more closely to his dubious
dignity.

Nevertheless he thought himself obliged to observe
some moderation, to satisfy the French princes, and
especially the Duke of Orleans, by giving them vague
assurances and by beginning some vain proceedings for
the restoration of unity. Thus on January 8, 1404, he
put forth, one after the other, five bulls promising on his
side that he would make every sacrifice for the restoration

1 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xxiv. IG and xxvi. 1 and 2. Cf. Mollat,
Annales de St Louis des Fran^ai.S', 1902.

2 Thus he turned a deaf ear to the vigorous objurgations addressed to
him by Gerson in sermons preached before him at Marseilles, and after-
wards at Tarascon, Jan. 1, 1404. 0pp. Gersonii, ii. col. 50, 54. The old
chancellor of the University thus laid down his part : " Prosequere pacem
Ecclesiae latratu quo potui, ego de genere catulus." 0pp. Gersonii, ii.
col. 74.

196

THE RESTITUTION OF OBEDIENCE

of religious unity.^ Thus it is that, in June of the same
year, he gave an assurance that he would send duly
appointed ambassadors to Boniface his rival. He did
so, as a matter of fact, and the embassy was led by the
Bishop of Saint-Pons. It was ordered to renew the
following proposal, which we have already seen formu-
lated by Benedict and which France had long before
rejected. The two rival pontiffs should have an inter-
view in a place agreed upon to concert together as to
the means of restoring peace. The French Pope offered
to go to Italy to some neutral territory. He proposed
to forbid his cardinals to elect a successor if he died,
but asked that Boniface should do the same.^

§ 3. Death of Boniface IX, — Election of Innocent VII.

The ItaHan Pontiff was already in failing health when
the ambassadors reached Rome, on September 22, and
he was unable to receive them. The envoys then had
him informed that the way they proposed would be very
advantageous for him. The Pope asked them to
specify these advantages ; but they insisted on the
proposal for an interview, and made no further advance.

A few days later, Boniface breathed his last (October
1, 1404). In a letter addressed to the King of France,
Benedict relates that this unexpected death was hastened
by a warm dispute between the Pope and the French
envoys. The latter had behaved very disrespectfully,
and replied sharply to the attacks of which the Avignon

^ Raynald, a. 1404^ n. 4-6. Ehrle, v. p. 464. Jarry, La vie politique
de Louis de France, p. 301. Valois, iii. p. 372.

2 NiEM, De Scismate, lib. ii. 23. Mart^ne et Durand, Veterum Script. ,
nova coUectio, praef. Ixiii. and 686.

197

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Pope had maintained that he was the object.^ If
Benedict's story is true, it is a discreditable one for his
ambassadors. But it is contradicted by an official
note sent a little later to the University of Paris by
Boniface's successor.-

This report adds : the Sacred College did not wish to
go into conclave until they had sent for the French
envoys to know whether they had instructions for such
an unforeseen occurrence, and if they had enough
authority to put in a resignation on behalf of Benedict.
In such circumstances, the cardinals would have made
it their duty to postpone the election of the future
Pontiff. The ambassadors declared that they had no
orders on the point from their master. Then it was
proposed that they should depute some of their number
to go to the Pope of Avignon to obtain such an order.
They refused, saying that Benedict would never consent
to the way of cession. Just at this time there was a
great disturbance in the Eternal City. They requested
the envoys to delay their departure, for there was no
security for them if they were to leave in the midst of
the turmoil. But they would not listen and quitted the
city. They had the misfortune to fall at once into the
hands of the commander of the castle of St Angelo, who
had them flung into prison, and only let them go for a
ransom of five thousand ducats. The cardinals made
a number of efforts to get them out of their difficulty,
but could avail nothing, as they had no authority over
the owner of the castle while the conclave lasted.^

* Mart^ne et DuRAND, lib. vii. praef. Ixiv. and 690. Hkfelk, x. p. 131.
Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xxv. c. 22.

2 Ibid., lib. xxvi. c. 2 and 3. The monk of St Denis makes no secret
of his preference for the Bishop of Rome's version, though he is on the
gide of Avignon.

' Chronic. Karoli VI., ibid. Niem, lib. ii. c. 24. Du Boulay, v. p. 109.

198

THE RESTITUTION OF OBEDIENCE

In Paris, as many doubted the truth of this story, the
Duke de Berry asked for a corroboration of it from Rome,
and obtained an answer in perfect keeping with the
official report that had already been forwarded.^ This
report was signed " Innocent VII.," the newly- elected
Sovereign Pontiff. This Pope was called Cosmo
Meliorati, and came from an obscure family of the
Abruzzi. He had been archbishop of Ravenna, then of
Bologna, and it was in the latter town that he had been
made cardinal. He was of exemplary Hfe, of more than
ordinary learning, and the purity of his morals was above
reproach. Before his advancement, like all the other
cardinals, he had taken an oath to work with all his
strength, should he be elected, for the suppression of
the Schism, and to resign his office if it were necessary.-

Innocent began by keeping the promises he had made
as Cosmo Meliorati, and immediately proclaimed a
council for his obedience. Unfortunately Rome was
disturbed. The Orsinis and Colonnas were taking up
arms against each other with the same ardour as of old.
Neither the memory of the Ghibellines, the secular
enemies of the Popes, nor that of Rienzi, the ardent
revolutionary, had faded from the popular mind. The
Pontiff was obliged to have recourse to the arms of
Ladislas, King of Naples. The latter put down the
rebellion, but his protection cost dear. This inter-
vention and sanguinary disturbances threw the Pope into
the thick of political passions and reprisals, and alienated
the feeling of the Romans from him more and more, for
they obliged him to fly to Viterbo. The Vatican and the

1 Chronic, lib. xxvi. c. e3. A Register bought at Lord Ashburnham's
sale^ p. 17. The letter is dated the end of April 1405.

2 Vita Innocentii VII., apud Muratori, iii. p. ii. p. 832. MartJine et
DuRAND, Thesaurus, ii. col. 1274.

199

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

cardinals' palaces were sacked, the Pope's servants
killed, and Rome was in anarchy throughout this reign.^

In the midst of these troubles he lost sight of the only
essential question, that of the suppression of the Schism.
On his side, Benedict was not anxious to return to
Avignon, which for him had so long been a place of
captivity. Salon, Tarascon, Marseilles, and Nice saw
him within their walls one after the other. He solemnly
declared that he wished to go to Viterbo in order to
negotiate with his adversary there. On May 16, 1405,
six galleys hung with flags reached Genoa.

Boucicault was there in command in the name of
France, and gave a magnificent reception to the Pontiff
whom his disreputable brother had but lately besieged
at Avignon.

Processions followed banquets, and solemn receptions
pompous reviews of the troops brought by the Pope.
St Vincent Ferrier came to the town at Benedict's
request, and astounded the whole country by his gift of
tongues, the number of his miracles, and the fruits of
sanctity. St Colette was about to ask the Pope at Nice
to receive her into the Order of St Francis. Peter
d'Ailly preached before him on the Feast of the Holy
Trinity, and got the festival ordained for the whole of
his obedience. Benedict's nomadic pontificate was not
without a certain brilliancy, and it was kept up until the
day when his obstinacy obliged the most saintly and the
most devoted to the Church to abandon him to his
unhappy fate.-

Meanwhile, the more Benedict sees that Innocent is
harassed with political difficulties, the more he multi-
plies his more or less sincere efforts and advances to

^ GuiRAUU, V fjtut pontifical apres le grand Schisme, p. 14.
2 Chronic.^ lib. xxvi. c. 6.

200

THE RESTITUTION OF OBEDIENCE

show his desire for unity. Already he had sent a
request to the Pope of Rome for safe- conducts that his
nuncios might enter Italy, but the latter refused them.
Then he gave out his plan of going himself to his rival
at Viterbo to come to an understanding with him, and he
begged King Charles to send him some princes of his
court as a guard of honour. The sovereign agreed and
deputed the Duke of Bourbon. In order to defray the
expenses of this proceeding, Benedict put new tenths on
the property of the French clergy ; and the clergy paid
without too much protestation, persuaded that union
was near.i

The Pope of Avignon asked Innocent VII. again for a
safe-conduct ; and the latter persisted in refusing it, on
the ground that his competitor's proposals were not
seriously meant.'

But Benedict's display of zeal increased in proportion
as he saw his rival show indifference. He asked the
Republic of Genoa to give him enough galleys to take
him to Rome.^ But time was lost, and the plague broke
out in the town and all along the coast. In order to
escape it, the Pope was compelled to wander in his ship
from Genoa to Savona, from Savona to Monaco, from
Monaco to Nice, and lastly from Nice to Marseilles.
In this last town he convoked a general council of his
obedience for Whitsuntide in the year 1407.

§ 4. Warm Discussions in Paris.

Meanwhile the Pope of Avignon, at the beginning of
1406, sent the Cardinal of Chalant to the capital to

^ Chronic, lib. xxvi. c. 1. Mart^ne et Durand, Veterum Script., vii.
col. 686.

2 NiEM, ii. 37.

3 Ji.]AN JOUVENEL DES UrSINS, p. I7l.

201

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

attach the dukes to his party more and more firmly.
They were then the real masters of France, for the King
only had the use of his reason at intervals. The legate
was coldly received, and he was specially censured when
he called the University a " nest of mar-plots." ^ He
renewed his attacks upon it when he obtained a solemn
audience, and treated those who accused Benedict as
gossips unworthy of confidence.^^

This violence was not without reprisals, nor were these
attacks without a reply. There was then at Paris a
professor of theology who later on won an unenviable
celebrity : this was the doctor, John Petit. A Norman
in origin,^ a poet when in the mood,^ an eloquent speaker,
passionate, sarcastic, and, above all,a perverse politician,
he was to distinguish himself later on by his apology for
tyrannicide.

In 1406, he posed as the official defender of the
University against the attacks of Benedict and his
legate. On May 17, Petit boldly took the offensive and
proposed to refuse obedience anew to this Pontiff of
Avignon, who was crushing the Gallican Church with his
exactions.

On June 7, 1406, one of the most enthusiastic pro-
fessors of theology, Peter Plaoul, attacked the letter of
the University of Toulouse in defence of Benedict, and
called for the criminal prosecution of its authors. He

* dhronic, lib. xxvi. c. 27.
2 Ibid., lib. xxvii. c. 1.

' Simeon Luce and Tschackert make him to be a Dominican : Hefele,
Hergenrother and Michelet a Friar minor. He was really one of the
secular clergy. He was buried at Hesdin in the Franciscan house in 1411.
Dknifle, ('hartuL, iii. p. 462.

* The Rouen Society of Bibliophiles has just published Le Livre du
champ d'or, and other imprinted poems of John Petit, one vol. quarto,
li.+247pp.

THE RESTITUTION OF OBEDIENCE

compared the place of the King in his kingdom with
that of the Pope in the Church : " The King is lord of
his subjects," he said, " but the Pope is not lord of the
Church, but her servant. The Church is confirmed in her
faith, in which she does not err, but the Pope can err." ^

Then John Petit resumed speaking and made a host of
reproaches against Benedict in a long speech full of
warmth and violence. " Obedience was restored to the
Pope," he said, " on certain conditions, and these con-
ditions have not been fulfilled. Benedict has shame-
lessly broken his oaths and promises. You all know
how eager he has been in the exaction of procurations,
annates, tithes, and services invented by some of his
predecessors to the great loss of the clergy."

Next day, Jouvenel des Ursins, the King's advocate,
again took up all these arguments, and gave his legal
decision. It covered three points : —

1st. The memorial of Toulouse University in favour
of Benedict and the restitution of obedience was to be
burnt.

2nd. The King is within his rights in opposing the
requests for money so frequently repeated by the Pope.

Srd. Benedict had not fulfilled the conditions laid
down for the restitution of obedience. The King, then,
had the right of refusing it afresh.'

The two first conclusions were accepted without any
difficulty.^ The third was graver, and might plunge
France again into all the disorders and evils of the with-
drawal of obedience. On their side, the Pope's partisans
made efforts to secure delay. The Parliament decided
not to come to any decision before the French prelates

1 Arch, nation., x. 1 ; 4787, f. 359.

2 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xxvii. c. 2. Hefele, x. p. 136.

3 The first was accepted on July 17, and the second on September 11.

203

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

had met, which they were going to do on All Saints' Day
of this same year, 1406.

In Italy, the business of union was going badly.
Innocent, who was fairly well-disposed towards it at
first, was cooling down. He got some of the curia and
some ambassadors to resolve that he was not bound to
keep the oath he had sworn to the conclave, that he
would work effectively for the peace of the Church. His
friends were highly astonished at this sudden right-
about-face. His ear was offended by their proposals,
and he imperiously declared to his Great Penitentiary
and his Vice-Chancellor that they must quiet these
chatterers, because he did not wish to hear any more
said about the matter of union.

Such, then, was the respective position of the two
obediences at the end of 1406. No way had been
successful ; no political or military expedient had
reached a happy result. Peace seemed further away
than ever, and the friends of the Church could only
bewail the ruin of their hopes, that had vanished as soon
as they had been apprehended.

About this period, a distinguished woman, of Italian
birth, but French by adoption, wrote the Booh of the Deeds
and Good Conduct of the Wise King Charles V, "0 what
a scourge ! " she cried, " O what a mournful mischief,
that still endures and has already endured for twenty-six
years ! Nor can this pestilence be cut off or made to
cease, if God, in His holy mercy, do not remedy it ! For
this abominable wound is already festering, and has
become chronic. ... It is indeed much to be feared
that there is great danger of the Christian rehgion as a
consequence some day suddenly dying out." ^

* lAvre des fais et bonnes nKBura du sage roi Charles V. (Collection of
memorials relatin^j^ to the history of France^ 1st series, vol. vi.), p. 116.

904,

CHAPTER XI

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

§ 1. Preliminaries and First Debates.

The fourth great ecclesiastical assembly since the
accession of Benedict was, then, to be held in Paris.

Its object, which was well laid down by the King's
advocate Jouvenel des Ursins, was not to formulate a
decision on any point of faith or discipline. Nor was
it to indicate a new method of putting an end to the
Schism. All had been tried and all had been found
unfruitful^

But it was necessary for the clergy to give the King
useful counsel on this fine point : should Benedict be
adhered to, or was it necessary to abandon him afresh ?
Is it expedient to resume the extreme measure called
withdrawal of obedience ?

This was the question that the bishops and doctors
of the University were called to resolve.

The problem was a grave one, for this was to create
anew a schism within the Schism, and to reopen wounds
that they wanted to heal. It was a question that
should not have been brought forward, for if the clergy
of France considered Benedict legitimate, it belonged
neither to the episcopate, nor to the University, nor
to royalty to refuse him obedience either in part or
altogether. But in revolutionary days, when once
legitimate authorities have been set at naught, one

205

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

is condemned from the very outset not to be able to
stop, and to fall lower than one intended to do at the
beginning.

The initiative of this schismatic resolution was due
to the University, which had long been dissatisfied with
the Pope of Avignon. The part played by Alma Mater,
after having been conciliatory from 1S90, had become
more and more aggressive and disrespectful towards
the French Pope. Clement and Benedict had been
spared neither censorious proceedings, nor interested
demands, nor bitter words, nor even threats of
deposition.

Certain professors of this learned body, puffed up with
the importance they had gained from the chance of
circumstance, showed no greater docility with regard to
the bishops, and assumed a role that was presumptuous
and extravagant.

From 1391, these professors had not shrunk from
coming forward as if they possessed a mission to violate
the rights of episcopal authority. They claimed to be
the function of reason in the body of the Church, pre-
scribing what is good and what is bad, what should be
done or avoided. They allowed the prelates the function
of the will, executive power, the moral obligation of
acting according to the light they received from the
intelligence represented by themselves.^ The teaching
office appeared to them to be a sacrament. It was
unreason in practice finding utterance in the language of
pedantry.

In the synod of 1406, Alma Mater was only too faith-
ful to this usurped position. She sought to make her
views prevail, and also her policy, and even her anti-

» A Dissertation by Gilles des Champs or John Gerson. Of. Denifle,
(Jhartularium, iii. Nos. 552, 596, and imS. Du Boulay, iv. p. 806.

206

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

pathies, and cried out that she was insulted if anyone
dared to oppose her.

Royal authority did not show less sensitiveness, and
one may easily imagine amidst what difficulties the
bishops gathered at Paris had to speak and act.^

Sixty-three prelates and doctors had met at the palace
by command of the King on November 18, 1406. In order
to enlighten the council as to the points in dispute, it
was first decided that each party should select a certain
number of theologians and canonists to set forth the
pros and cons on behalf of either side. At bottom, it
was a struggle between the University and the Pope
whom she had imprudently recognised and subsequently
obstinately defended.

The defenders of the University were in the first
place Master Pierre-aux-Boeufs, Master John Petit, the
Patriarch of Alexandria, Simon de Cramaud, and after-
wards Peter le Ray, Abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel, and
Peter Plaoul of Liege. They divided between them the
arguments to be put forward and the replies made to the
reasons of their opponents.

The Pope's orators were Master WilHam Philastre,
Dean of the Church of Reims, the Archbishop of Tours,
Ameilh du Breuil, and the Bishop of Cambrai, Peter
d'Ailly. They agreed to reply to Benedict's detractors.

The Advocate-General, who spoke in the name of
the King and had to sum up the case, was Jouvenel des
Ursins.

On November 18, 1406, after a solemn Mass, celebrated
by the Archbishop of Rouen, all the prelates, doctors,

* Bourgeois du Chastenet has published the speeches from an MS. of
St Victor, pp. 94-284. They are partly summarised in the Chronie.
Karoli VI., lib. xxvii. c. 17 ; in Du Boulay, v. p. 132 ; and in the 0pp.
Gersmii, i. p. xix. See the French MS. 23,428 of the Bibl. Nationale.

207

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

and professors went in procession to the little hall of the
palace on the Seine, and appeared at the audience. It
was in the presence of the Duke of Guyenne — whom the
speakers call a " worthy heir of France, the flower of
purity and innocence, the new Josias with the face of an
angel " — of the Duke of Berry his uncle, and of Louis,
King of Sicily, that this great meeting took place.

The Parisian Cordelier, Pierre-aux-Boeufs, doctor of
theology, opened the discussion. He was the repre-
sentative of the University, which seems to have made
a great mistake in choosing him. In his emphatic
exhortation he drew a picture of the religious troubles
that had ensued upon the election of Clement VII. He
likened the Schism to a halo about a star : it was an
endless circle ; and compared with it, previous theo-
logical dissensions were but semi- circles or straight Unes.
Then he compared the bishops to planets, and their
beneficiaries, who had been blinded by their advance-
ment, to night-birds, " who hide their beaks in their
feathers at the rising of the sun." The different
members of the human body, and flowers and fruits pro-
vided him with other similes, and the orator came to the
end of his prolix discourse without reaching any con-
clusion.^ It was a commonplace, pretentious, and
burlesque introduction. In one passage he spoke of
" the leafy verdure of fine words, essentially meaning-
less " : it was the best description of his own discourse.

Very different is the speech of Master John Petit
against Benedict. He begins by making an apology
for his bluntness of nature, and accuses himself of
speaking " with haste and warmth as if he were in
anger."

The irascible doctor gives a historical summary of all

^ Bourgeois du Chastenet, p. 95.

208

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

that had been done to secure unity during the last
twelve years : he violently attacks the Pope of Avignon,
his perjuries, and his exactions, his numerous and
disloyal subterfuges. Nor does he spare the Roman
Pontiff, and sets himself to prove that both are schis-
matics and strongly to be suspected of heresy.

" The restoration of obedience to Benedict was
conditional," he says ; " the four conditions have not
been fulfilled at all : therefore France should separate
again from the Pope who has broken his word." ^

After John Petit' s attacks, the Patriarch of Alexandria
ascended the tribune, and made a speech that was full
of more worthy and higher reasoning, but tainted with
grave theological errors.

He claimed to show " that the request of the Uni-
versity should be granted, and that the King and the
people of his realm ought not to obey either one or the
other of the two competitors of the papacy."

Starting with the assumption that the rival Pontiffs,
the two foxes, as he called them, were schismatics, he set
himself to show that these Popes could no longer
promote to bishoprics and cures, that their ordinations
were dubious, and that those whom they had made
bishops or priests were guilty of mortal sin in administer-
ing or receiving the Sacraments ; a number of ex-
travagant inferences from a gratuitous hypothesis.'^
" I know not how we put up with such enemies of our
faith, such Antichrists and destroyers of Christendom,"
he exclaimed. Simon de Cramaud even went further :
" Whoever pretends to hold the true faith, and despises
the traditions of the holy fathers and holy doctors, and

^ Bourgeois du Chastenet_, pp. 105 and 113.

^ Ibid., p. 120. He quotes passages of law_, and sometimes makes a
rather macaronic mixture of Latin and French. The theological errors
are refuted in our preceding chapter ix. , p. 180 ff,

o 209

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

on that account divides the Church, is a heretic. He
who damnably keeps the Church in Schism is even a
heresiarch, according to the holy doctors." ^

Simon de Cramaud is indeed himself far more schis-
matic when he suggests that French prelates can judge
all appeals in the last resort. The bishops and arch-
bishops were to appeal finally to the primates of France.
"Have we not archbishops of Bourges, Vienne, and Lyons
who are primates ? It would be more fitting to have
French causes judged in France and not in Italy. Never-
theless," he concluded, " I wish to say nothing against
the Hberties and immunities of the holy Roman Church."
Until these troublous times this audacious proposal had
never been put forward. Before the days of this orator
of 1406, no prelate had ever dared to dispute the right of
the Holy See to decide upon important cases in final and
supreme appeal. The pragmatic sanction of Bourges,
the whole of Gallicanism, and the despotic spirit of
Napoleon in 1811 are in embryo in this pretentious and
rebeUious speech.

On December 3, a few days later, Benedict's defenders
repHed before the King and the dukes. William
Philastre, Dean of Reims, and subsequently a cardinal,
was first on the scene. After making some excuses " as
to his ignorance and the roughness of his equipment," -
after comparing the different faculties to the four
animals of the Apocalypse, he wondered at their
audacity in attacking and desiring to judge the Pope.
" Methinks," said he, " that not all the nations together
can condemn the Sovereign Pontiff. How, then, can
you judge him with your council, which consists of a

^ Bourgeois du Chastenet, pp. 122 and ]57.

2 Ihid., p. 126. Elsewhere he says : ^^ am a poor man broug^ht up in
the fields : I am rough by nature, and have not lived among kings and
nobles/' p. 163.

210

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

small minority as compared with the rest of the Church,
being barely a fourth or fifth part of it ? Kings cannot
deprive the Pope of his authority, but the Sovereign
Pontiff has sometimes set up a king in France. He
has deposed Frederick the Emperor, and he finds a
prince for Portugal." These historical reminders were
little to the taste of the elite congregation who listened
to this speech on behalf of the Pope, and still less to the
liking of the Duke of Berry. Later on, Philastre was
obHged to offer a humble apology, so quick were
princely susceptibilities to take offence.

Then the orator, with more vigoiu* than skill, made a
complete apologia for the Pontiff of Avignon : like the
latter, he declared in favour of the way of agreement,
which included all the rest, and against cession, which
he thought useless. He showed up all the inconsist-
encies of the conduct of France in the matter, and begged
that there should be no fresh withdrawal of obedience.

On December 4, the Archbishop of Tours, Ameilh du
Breuil, addressed the assembly, and made a prohx
lecture of a historical character. He reminded them
that the numerous schisms that had occurred before
had never been " done away with or extirpated " by
the way of cession, but rather by general councils.

He overlooked the fact that, in all the former troubles
of the Church, the circumstances were different. Then
the question was how to put an end to a usurpation that
was clear to everyone, whereas in 1406 it was uncertain
on which side the real vicar of Jesus Christ was.

The Dean of Reims had been wanting in style and
prudence ; the Archbishop of Tours had made use of
arguments that were little to the point ; the Bishop of
Cambrai entered the lists on December 11, and showed
his great superiority to the preceding speakers. It was

211

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

upon his diplomatic skill and well-known eloquence that
Benedict relied above all.

Peter d'Ailly remained much more calm than his
opponents : his words therefore had all the more weight
when they recommended peace and moderation, and
when he complained of the bitter words and passionate
accusations brought against the Pope by the babblers
who had ascended the tribune before him.

From his point of view, the way of cession was in
reality the best : a general council was also to be desired,
particularly for the question of Church reform ; ^ the
withdrawal for five years had brought about no results :
hence those who would not return to that stale and
inefficacious method should not be treated as schis-
matics. Taking up several propositions that he had
formerly put forth, d'Ailly regretted that the whole of the
University had meddled with the business, and not the
faculty of theology alone, which solely was competent.
He urged the prelates to give, not definite and per-
emptory decisions, but rather well-reasoned counsels.
He declared that Gerson and more than eighty-six
masters of the faculty of theology were of his view, and
that they further believed in the great utility of pro-
vincial councils to be held annually to prepare for the
futm'e council of Benedict's obedience, and subse-
quently for a general council of the two obediences.

Lastly, he energetically defended the conduct of the
Pontiff of Avignon, and declared that the Pope was
neither a schismatic nor a heretic in the true sense of the

1 Bourgeois du Chastenet, p. 153. D'Ailly asked for a general council
first of all in 1381, and then demanded cession in 1395. He never had
approved of the too difficult way of compromise, nor of the too barbarous
way of action, nor of that of agreement, a dilatory expedient invented by
Benedict after his election. In 1406 he extolled and defended the two
first means, which ended in prevailing at the Council of Constance.

212

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

word, and claimed that he was ready to convoke a
general council.

All these arguments ran directly counter to the ideas
of the University.

Yet the speaker had taken care that his sentiments
towards Alma Mater should be neither open to attack
nor even to suspicion. Let us quote part of his exordium :
" I protest that I wish to give offence to no one, and say
this with special reference to my mother the University,
whom I always love affectionately, and to whom I am
much bound. For in and through her I have received
many benefits and honours, whereof I was not worthy." ^

But these oratorical precautions did not succeed in
preserving d'Ailly from attacks and enmities. The
University gave him small thanks for his frankness.
She refused to regard him any longer as one of her
members, for she complained that he had injured her
reputation. She asked to be allowed to justify herself
before the King through John Petit as her representative.
He immediately began his address, and in his protests
one finds the usual violence of character and the state-
ments and methods that distinguished this impetuous
Norman.2

Nevertheless, the rhetorical position of the Bishop of
Cambrai had been unexceptionable. Cool, methodical,
with his speech under perfect control, he had neither
let himself be moved by interruptions nor calls to order,
but had carried out his masterly argument to the end.

Like Simon de Cramaud, the Abbot of Mont-Saint-
Michel and Peter Plaoul maintained anti-papal opinions
and tried to secure the acceptance of all the prejudices of
the University.

The abbot did not shrink from saying that obedience

1 Bourgeois du ChasteneTj p. 151. ^ Ibid., pp. 198 and 228.

213

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

should be refused to the Pope when he abused his
authority : and Benedict was in this position, for he was
only working for the destruction of the Church. Peter
Plaoul declared that the two Popes were obstinate
schismatics, and consequently heretics.^

In reading their speeches, one becomes more and more
convinced that behef in the divine institution of the
Papacy had received serious shocks in these biased
minds, and that the rights of the supreme Pontiff were
scarcely any longer recognised by all these errant
University men.

§ 2, The Case of the King's Advocate,

Lastly, Jouvenel des Ursins, the King's advocate,
addressed the meeting to state the case. He spoke
as a rather Gallican statesman, a forerunner of A chill e
de Harlay and Denis Talon. Alas ! for four centuries
there has been scarcely any change in the language
of French political advocates when the Church is in
question !

" The King," he said in substance, " had the right to
convene the council. In the name of Charles VI. I
demand withdrawal of obedience, the suppression of the
taxes imposed by Benedict, and the establishment of
the jurisdiction of ordinaries, both for collation of
benefices and for the hearing of disputes." ^

After this speech, Jouvenel invited the members of
the meeting to give their votes in writing. Simon de
Cramaud nominated himself to preside over the ballot,
to the great dissatisfaction of the council. The ques-

* Cf. Schwab, Johannes Gerson, p. 178. Tschackert, Peter von Ailli,
p. 124. Ehrle, Dietrich von Nieheim, p. 19 ff.
^ Bourgeois du Chastenet, pp. 106 and 229.

214

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

tion was this : "Is it advantageous to declare for a
fresh withdrawal of obedience ? " Opinions were very
divided.

Some were for making new petitions and filial re-
monstrances to the Pope. Others were more radical,
and declared for entire and unconditional withdrawal.
This was the opinion of the University.

There were indeed some who were less bold, and put
forward a mixed view, and who would have preferred
half -measures. They were for maintaining the obedi-
ence in things spiritual, and for repudiating it in things
temporal ; that is to say, as to collations to benefices,
prelacies, and dignities. This middle position received
a majority of votes, and on January 4, 1407, the assembly
adopted it.

It was, as will be remembered, the opinion which the
Bishop of Cambrai had put forward in the work now
in manuscript that we have already analysed.^ The
patriarch and several dukes came over to this view, and
the King himself approved of this grave decision on
February 11 following.

As was only to be expected, this decree provoked
lively dissatisfaction. The Duke of Orleans and Guy de
Roye, Archbishop of Reims, energetically opposed its
execution. They represented the work to the King as an
act of hatred, and also that it encroached not only on
the personal authority of Benedict, but also on the
indefeasible rights of the vicar of Jesus Christ, and on
ecclesiastical privileges. Their influence was successful
in staying the execution of this royal order. Hence
resulted quarrels, insults, and resentments, that did not
forward the work of uniting the two Churches.^

* De materia concilii generalis, 2a pars.

^Du BouLAY, V. p. 141. Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xxvii. c. IT.

215

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Thus ended the famous meeting of 1406. Its char-
acter is remarkable and perhaps unique of its kind, as
indeed was the trial through which the Church was
passing at this period.

If one considers the composition of a council of this
kind, held before the court, it is not like the states
general of the three orders that had been inaugurated
at the beginning of the preceding century by Philip le
Bel. It was rather like the great assemblies of the clergy
of France, at which Le TeUier and Colbert, Fran9ois de
Harlay and Bossuet appeared later on.

It might specially be compared with the council of
1811, in which the great papal question and the question
of the means to be taken for getting rid of the Pope in
the Church were also at stake. Simon de Cramaud, a
GaUican before the days of GaUicanism, is Hke the
Cardinals Fesch and Maury. Jouvenel des Ursins, who
summed up the debate and laid down the conclusions,
appears to have been the model imitated four hundred
years afterwards in the same town of Paris by the
minister Bigot, when he claimed to intervene in the
midst of episcopal commissions and to impose his will.

Let us hasten to add that the comparison, which we
would not press unduly, here ceases.

The discussions of this unusual gathering are also
curious reading. The style of oratory is familiar and
picturesque. D'Ailly complains of " being indisposed
with a cold, and of not being as facile as he could wish." '
He asked for a recorder at the meeting, " that the words
uttered in it may not be thrown to the winds." ^ He
calls for the speedy conclusion of the discussions :
" for," says he, " we are Hke lawyers who, after having

^ Bourgeois uu Chastenet, Preuves, p. 140.
^ Ibid. , 1^. W2.

216

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

spoken very strongly against each other, go off to dine
together." ^

The Dean of Reims quotes at great length common-
place apologies borrowed from the versified stories of the
day. In his pleadings we have already noted the fable
put into verse by La Fontaine and entitled " The Child
and the Schoolmaster." '' He tells popular tales, well-
known proverbs, which set those present laughing. In
the same speech he complains that he has not brought
his books, and that " he can neither cite chapters nor
doctors." ^ An assembly of to-day would doubtless
easily forgive the omission.

When a speaker like Peter Plaoul is obviously tiring
the Court, the Chancellor rises and remarks : " Our
Lordships are getting bored, Master Peter ; have you
much more to say ? " And the object of the interro-
gatories replies unruffled : "I shall not finish very soon :
I have still much matter. If you like, I will finish
to-morrow." ^

Indeed the speeches of those days would often exceed
the limits of the hearers' patience of om* times. They
had three divisions, and sometimes one of these con-
tained eight or twelve subdivisions.^ The speakers put
forth their propositions, not as formal assertions or
explicit decisions, but as simple questions for discussion
and dehberation, especially when the Church, the Popes
and their rights were concerned.''' Thus they left them-
selves convenient loopholes and easy excuses.

Although our language lends itself more to discussion,
and offers greater facility for impromptu replies, all the

^ Bourgeois du Chastenet, p. 163. ^ Ibid., pp. 200, 207, 222.
3 Ibid., pp. 126 and 200. * Ibid., p. 188.

''Ibid., p. 205.

'^ Ibid., pp. 126 and 151. This lack of frankness in argument is to be
seen in all the disputants of these days. See p. 11 of this work.

217

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

speakers made excuses for speaking French : " These
are high matters," said d'Ailly, " and not easy to explain
in French." ^ " I would much rather speak Latin,"
added the Abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel. " I am not
accustomed to speaking French, and also I am nervous
and not certain of what I am saying. I beg you to bear
with, my deficiencies and put up with me." -

Oratorical eloquence was scarcely born in France : it
was still stammering in the rhetorical bouts of the
prelates.

Extraordinary amplifications and the forced applica-
tion of Holy Scripture sometimes hide the underljdng
thinness of certain speeches. In other speakers the
soundness of the reasoning is weakened by flourishes
that were certainly useless, and by comparisons in
doubtful taste. Moreover, there was a mania for
borrowing quotations from ancient writers without
imitating their style, and a habit of cramming speeches
with tags of Latin. It is, indeed, easy to convince
oneself that the humanism of the time was only pedantry.
'' The knowledge of those who spoke so wretchedly must
have been prodigious," remarked La Bruyere.

Yet, such as they are, these harangues are a most
curious monument of the language spoken at that period,
and are interesting from more than one point of view.

§ 3. The Election of Gregory XII. — The Hopes to which
it gave Rise,

About the same time, news of the death of Innocent
VII. reached Paris. The Pope had been warmly
entreated by the Romans to return to the Eternal City,

^ HouRGEOis Du Chastenet, pp. 126 and 157.

^ Ibid. J p. 164. Cf. Denifle, ChartuL, iii., Introd. p. xv.

218

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

and at last had consented to leave Viterbo, where he had
taken refuge. But exile and grief had undermined his
health, and he only returned to Rome to languish. He
died on November 6, 1406, after reigning for two years
amidst the tumult of political faction and ecclesiastical
dissension. Circumstances had reduced him to be the
plaything of the unbridled passions with which he was
surrounded.

Fourteen cardinals immediately gathered in the chapel
of the apostoHc palace. They unanimously declared
that the way of cession was the fairest and most reason-
able for securing unity. They swore that, if one of them
were elected, he would adopt this as the only practical
method and renounce the Papacy, provided that
Benedict on his side would do the same.

This declaration was much clearer than those that
had gone before it, and it seemed as if nothing were
wanting to assure the peace of the Church ^ in the near
future. But human ambition has many ways of getting
out of all promises, even when the gravest and hoUest
interests are at stake, as will be clearly seen once more.

Nevertheless the Sacred College seemed to have made
a very fortimate choice. The votes had been cast in
favour of Angelo Corrario, Cardinal of St Mark's, and he
had taken the name of Gregory XII. He was a Venetian,
and under Innocent VII. had been entrusted with very
deUcate missions.

He had always led a very austere Ufe ; ^ he was " of
holy Hfe and primitive severity," ^ and sixty -three years
of age. Seeing him pass with his tall and emaciated
form, one might have said, " A soul conducting a body."

^ MARTJfeNE et DuRAND, Vetev. Script. , col. vii. 722.
^ MuRATORi, iii. p. ii. col. 837.
^Ibid.jxvi. col. 1191, and xix. col. 925.

219

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Hence it might be hoped that purely human considera-
tions would have less hold over a Pontiff so aged and
of such a stamp.

After his election on November 30, 1406, Gregory
renewed all his oaths and appeared to be sincere in his
intention to keep them.^

Hence joy and hope reigned in the court of Rome.
They were soon shared by the whole of the CathoHc
world, when Gregory notified Benedict of his election,
and of the conditions under which he had accepted it
(December 12). " It is not the time to dispute about
rights," he wrote : "on the other hand, it is rather the
time for making them yield to public interests. The
true mother would rather give up her rights than see her
child cut in twain. I therefore propose to you to give up
the tiara, if you on your side agree to do the same thing." ^
" I wiU go to see Benedict," he added, " even if I had
to make the journey alone with only my stick, or in a
little skiff." 3

The Pope of Avignon at first appeared to enter into
his rival's views. He received Gregory's ambassador
courteously, and immediately replied that he consented
to have a conference with him.

Thenceforward it appeared as if each of the two
Popes were no more than a steward, temporarily
entrusted with the affairs of his Church, and ready to
abdicate on the first sign.

Such a new and unexpected situation was thought to
pave the way for negotiations which could not fail to
end in tangible results. An important embassy was

' Cf. NiKM, De Scismate, lib. iii. 2.

2 Chronic, lib. xxvii. c. 21. Cf. Christophe, Histoire de la Fapaute au
XIV' siecle, iii. p. 234. Finke, Acta Concilii Constanc, i. p. 280.

^ Raynaij), a. 140(j, 13. Niem, op. cit., 6. This writer always calls
Gregory Errorius.

220

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

sent from Paris to Marseilles, where Benedict had gone
to settle the place of the future interview between the
two Popes.

The French legation consisted of very important
persons. Among them were the Patriarch of Alexandria,
the Archbishop of Tours, Peter d'Ailly, John Gerson,
Peter Plaoul, John Petit, William Philastre, and almost
all the speakers of the Council of 1406. A young
graduate in canon law, then almost unknown, but
destined to attain later on an unenviable celebrity, was
with the embassy : he was Peter Cauchon, the future
Bishop of Beauvais.

Meanwhile envoys left Rome to come to an under-
standing with the Pope of Avignon about the same
matter.

Malatesta of Pesaro, an eloquent and amiable prince,
had offered to go as ambassador at his own expense,
and he was recommended by the cardinals. Unfortu-
nately Gregory's preference was for his nephew, Antony
Corrario, Bishop of Modon, whose stupidity and pre-
tensions more than once nearly wrecked everything.
There was much difficulty in coming to an agreement
as to the place of the proposed conference ; but at
last, on April 20, 1407, the town of Savona was
selected.^

In the meantime the royal ambassadors reached
Marseilles (May 9). Benedict gave them a cordial
reception, although several of them, and especially the
Patriarch, Simon de Cramaud, had shown little respect
for his person at the Council of Paris.

At the request of the King's envoys, the Pontiff
pubhcly accepted the way of cession ; nevertheless, when
they begged him to confirm his words by a solemn bull,

1 Chronic, lib. xxviii. c. 2 and 3.

221

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

he blankly refused. He pretended that this act would
be a loss of time as well as a sign of mistrust.^ He was
asked to promise that, in case of his death, he would
require that no successor should be chosen, and that the
cardinals of the two colleges should meet to elect a single
Pope. He postponed an answer.

The French ambassadors begged the cardinals to
interpose with Benedict. Malesset did so in the name
of his colleagues, and got nothing from the obstinate
Pontiff. The envoys of the Duke of Orleans, the
faithful upholder of the Avignon Pope, met with no
better success. The Bishop of Cambrai, and then
Gerson, d'Ailly's friend and pupil, joined the Abbot of
St Denis in taking a fresh step ; but with as little result
as those that had gone before it. The inflexible Benedict
refused the bull they requested of him : " My acts," he
said, " will prove to you better than my words that I
have only the honour of God and the interests of the
Chm-ch in view. You may be sure that I wish for
nothing so much as to please the King, France, and all
Christian people." ^

No entreaty could induce him to go any further, and
the ambassadors took leave of him without being able to
obtain any further concession. At this they were very
dissatisfied : all their apprehensions awoke anew, and
they began to suspect the good intentions of Benedict.
When they reached Aix-en-Provence, several were for
an immediate proclamation of the withdrawal of obedi-
ence in accordance with the instructions they had
received.

D'Ailly and Gerson opposed these arguments ener-
getically, and succeeded in winning a victory for more

^ Chronic.^ c. 8 and 9.

^ Ibid., lib. xxviii. c. 12. Valois, iii. p. 514.

THE COUNCIL OF PARIS IN 1406

peaceful views, and in deferring a total rupture.^ While
several of their colleagues returned to Paris, the Bishop
of Cambrai and the Chancellor set out for Rome with
the Patriarch, in order to maintain and stimulate the
good dispositions of Gregory.

Then all Catholics looked full of hope towards the
little town of Savona, where the noble meeting was to
gather which should at last restore peace to the Church,
which had been divided for nearly thirty years.

Later on, through similar gatherings, Pisa, Constance,
and Trent were destined in turn to attract the general
attention of the Catholic world.

Four centuries later, in still more unhappy circum-
stances for the Church, Savona was to draw to itself
the looks, not only of all true Catholics devoted to
Pius VII., but of all men who are touched with the
sight of crushed weakness struggling against injustice
crowned and triumphant.

For the assembly of 1407, the republic of Genoa put
three well-armed galleys at the disposal of the Pope ;
Lucca and Florence offered him their support ; John de
Boucicault, governor of Genoa in the name of the King
of France, was to protect the coming meeting. King
Charles had written to the inhabitants of Genoa and
Savona to urge them to give a good reception to the two
Popes, and these towns willingly opened their gates and
palaces for them.^ France and Italy seemed to be full
of the best dispositions, and all Christian hearts were
rejoicing beforehand at the happy result of the negotia-
tions that were about to begin.

1 Mart£:ne et Durand, Thesaurus, ii. p. ]329. Chronic, xxviii. c. 13.

2 Bourgeois du Chastenet, Preuves, p. 504. Letter of June 11, 1407.
On the 13th, Charles sent similar instructions to his ambassadors and
officers, p. 516. See Finke, i. p. 280, a detailed report from Simon de
Cramaud to Sigismund.

223

CHAPTER XII

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

§ 1. Failure of the Proposed Interview,

As we have seen, the French ambassadors, Simon de
Cramaud, Peter d'Ailly, Gerson, and a few others were
on their way to the Eternal City. Though they were
getting near Rome, the envoys were not without anxiety
about the success of their mission, so often already had
their strongest hopes come to nothing. At Viterbo,
some of them met the Cardinal of Liege, John Gile, and
Cardinal Orsini, who added to their uneasiness as to the
Pope's disposition. At Rome, where they arrived on
July 4, 1407,^ these apprehensions further increased.
Gregory appeared slack and inactive in the midst of this
movement towards unity that he had himself set going.
His former ardour had given way to marked coolness.

What were the causes of the change ? They were of
two kinds, the one political, the other personal. Ladislas
of Naples had found in Gregory a Pontiff devoted to the
interests of his crown, and put every hindrance in the
way of his thinking about cession. On the other hand,
the rigid attitude of the King of France with regard to
Benedict made the Pope of Rome fear that he might
meet with similar disrespect if he were at Savona under
the heavy hand of Boucicault.

But the motives that chiefly influenced the old man's
weakness were of a more intimate character. His

^ P. d'Ailly and others coming by sea arrived on July 16.

224

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

nephews, for whom he always showed an extravagant
affection, daily urged upon him that, if he gave up the
Supreme Pontificate, the fortune of their house would
fall and even vanish completely. The mind of the old
Pontiff grew more and more liable to these perfidious
counsels, and his zeal for unity became ever more and
more lukewarm. It was the interest of his family
rather than love of supreme authority that played upon
his heart, to the confusion of poor human nature. When
the French ambassadors appeared in audience, he made
use of a number of ways to evade the stipulations of the
Marseilles agreement. Being a Venetian, he would
rather go to Savona in Venetian galleys, and refused
those of Genoa, the old enemy of his country. On the
other hand, he would willingly go by land in spite of war,
plague, and difficult roads ; only his means were in-
sufficient. These were miserable shifts, and childish
or rather senile subterfuges, which the Pope nevertheless
dared to repeat in the presence of the envoys of Charles
VI., and of the legates of Benedict, met in solemn
audience on July 28, 1407.^

Neither remarks nor proposals made by the ambas-
sadors, nor their conferences with the cardinals, nor
their entreaties with the senator, nor their objurgations
to the conservators and nobles of Rome, were able to
make the Pontiff change his mind, and he showed
himself as obstinate as his rival of Avignon.

After several requests on the one side and as many
refusals on the other, the French envoys, cruelly de-
ceived, set out on their way home (end of July 1407).
On reaching Genoa, on August 21, two of them drew
up monitories and sent them to Rome.

1 Chronic. Karoli VL, lib. xxviii. c. 24. Martkne et Durand,
Thesaurus, ii. col. 1347 ff.

p 225

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

The author of the first was James de Nouvion, who
wrote to the Bishop of Todi and his colleagues who had
stayed with the Pope. It is a document full of per-
tinence, elegance, and, at times, of eloquence.^

The second letter, addressed to the Pontiff himself,
remains unpublished : its author was the learned and
able Bishop of Cambrai.- At Rome he had succeeded
in winning the confidence of the Pope, and he wished to
turn it to good account for the greater welfare of the
Church. Therefore he begged Gregory to fulfil all the
conditions of the Marseilles undertaking, to go to
Savona and to trust the King of France. He was frank
enough to urge upon him the scandal to which his
refusal would give rise and the loss that would result to
the Apostolic See.^

All these counsels and attempts remained unavailing.
When Benedict at Lerins, where he held his court,
heard the issue of the steps that had been taken with his
competitor, he secretly rejoiced. The less Gregory was
for carrying out the Marseilles agreement, the more his
rival pretended that he wished to be faithful to it.^ He
left Lerins with six well-armed galleys, and after a short
stay at Nice, reached Savona on September 24, 1407.
On his side, Gregory set out with extreme slowness, and
reached Viterbo on August 15. He stayed there twenty
days in spite of all the entreaties of the French cardinals
and deputies ; and finally consented to go as far as

^ Chronic, c. 20*. Cf. Scheuffgen, Beitr'dge zur Geschichte des grossen
Schismas, p. 91.

2 Hefkle, Iliatoj-y of the Councils, x. p. 158. Bibl. de r£cole des Charles,
1902, p. 233 ff.

3 MS. in the Vatican Library, No. 4192, f. 29. flf. Salembier, Petrus
de Alliaco, p. 71- Gerson collaborated in the letter dated September 15.

* '' Quia Gre^orius fuiriebat, ipse Benedictus obviam ire videbatur,^'

SOZOM^INE OF PiSTOIA in MuRATORI, Xvi.

226

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

Siena, with the vague notion of getting as far as
Lombardy and stopping there.

In giving an account of all these tergiversations,
Leonard Aretino said later on, with more mischievous-
ness than respect : " The first, he of Avignon, is a sea-
monster that cannot travel by land ; the second,
Gregory, is a land-animal that cannot endure the sea." ^

Benedict awaited his rival long at Savona while the
latter was purposely delaying at Siena, and staying there
from September 4, 1407, till January 1408. Gregory
wasted his time in writing letters to the King of France,
the Dukes of Burgundy and Berry, the University, and
even to Boucicault, whom he both feared and hated.
Thus he took care to inform Ladislas how impossible
it was for him to go to Savona, and the latter, not at all
well-disposed towards unity, was only too glad to be
convinced.^

The Pope of Rome frequently allowed the time
fixed for the meeting to come to an end. He chose
different places, one after the other, and lastly he sent
three nuncios to Savona to make excuses. He did not
think that he was bound by the Marseilles contract,
and asked for another to be drawn up on fresh
grounds.

After many parleys, Benedict consented to go as far
as Porto-Venere, not far from Spezia. Gregory came to
Lucca, and refused to come any nearer to his rival. Yet
they were scarcely separated by a day's walk. He
feared, he said, the armed galleys and the aggressive
character of his competitor : he believed, or pretended

1 MuRATORi^ xix. col. 926. Cf. LexXfant, Histoire du Concile de Pise, i.
p. 193.

^ NiEM^ De Scismate, iii. 20, 21. Nemus unionis, tr. iv. 1. MARTfeNE_,
ThesauruSy ii. col. 1339. Veterum monum. amplissima collection vii. col.
760.

227

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

to believe, that Benedict had a hostile intent and a
treacherous plan for seizing him by force.^

Meanwhile Ladislas was marching upon Rome with a
powerful army, and appeared under the walls on April
24, 1408. He reckoned on the perpetual dissensions
between the Orsinis and Colonnas, on the latter of whom
he relied. Paul Orsini, the governor of the town, made
a show of wishing to defend it with vigour ; but next
night he hastened to give Rome over to Ladislas, who
thus triumphed almost without striking a blow (April
25). Instead of being cast down by this violent capture,
Gregory appeared to rejoice at it. He called the usurper
" very dear son," and seemed only to see in this inter-
vention a way of ridding himself of the cardinals and of
the entreaties of those who were urging him in the
direction of union.^

Doubtless none of these operations prejudiced the
rights of the Pope of Rome in any way. The proud
despotism of Louis XIV. and the degrading vices of
Louis XV. did not prevent their being the legitimate
successors of Henry IV. and St Louis. Only these
proceedings on the part of the Pontiff, Hke those of
Urban VI. not long before him, made these rights less
respected and, so to say, less inviolable in the eyes of
the cardinals, even of those who had elected him.

Was Benedict any more sincere ? Certainly he kept
up appearances better; but all these tergiversations,
incessantly renewed, disappointed the expectations of
the Christian world, and especially those of France.

1 NiEM, De Scismate, lib. iii. c. 23.

2 MuRATOBi, ii. c. 4_, a. 1408. '' Ultra modum laetificati fuerant," says
NiEM, De Scismate, iii. 28. '' Gre^orius fuit valde alacer, nam clam de
voluntate ejus rex capiebat terras ecclesiae." Sozom^ine in Mubatori,
xvi. p. 1192.

228

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

§ 2, Charles leaves Benedict, and the Cardinals abandon

the Popes.

A terrible assassination came to terrify the Court and
the whole country. John the Fearless had his nephew
Louis of Orleans killed in the streets of Paris (November
2S, 1407). This frivolous but chivalrous prince had
always defended Benedict against the ill-will of his
uncles, the plans of the cardinals, and the threats and
violence of the University. In striking him down, the
Duke of Burgundy had dealt a terrible blow to the
Avignon party. Thenceforward the King was delivered
over irretrievably to the enemies of the Pope. The
withdrawal of obedience had been, as we have seen,
resolved upon but not carried out. The Pontiff, with
his interminable wranglings, seemed to deserve all
severity. Charles decided to let drop the sword of
Damocles that had been so long suspended over his head.
In two edicts, dated January 12, 1408, the King informed
the two claimants that if union had not taken place by
the Feast of the Ascension, he would declare himself
neutral and leave Benedict's party.^

On getting this unexpected news, the Pope of Avignon
issued bulls in which he complained with unrestrained
bitterness and threw all the blame upon his rival. On
April 18, 1408, he threatened the King with excom-
munication and other canonical penalties,^ and on
May 14 he carried out his threat.

The Court and the University were aroused by this
attitude, and declared that Benedict and the distri-
butors of these documents, pronounced to be seditious,

1 Du BOULAY, V. p. 131.

2 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xxix. c. 2 and 4. D^Achery, SpiciL, i.
p. 803.

229

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

were guilty of high treason. The masters of the Uni-
versity do not even seem to have had a thought of
turning towards Rome, and of recognising and acclaim-
ing Gregory to hold Benedict in check, a step that would
have brought the Schism to an abrupt and complete
conclusion. On May 21, in full meeting, Master Courte-
cuisse, in the presence of the University and the people,
brought fresh charges of heresy and schism against the
Pope of Avignon amidst the applause of the whole of
the royal council. " In the future," said he, " we will
no longer obey Benedict, or call him Pope or Cardinal.
His bulls are false, unjust, null, prejudicial to France and
hurtful to the King's majesty." The complete with-
drawal of obedience was proclaimed afresh, and was
approved by the whole of the assembly. Violence
carried on what inconsistency, presumption and a spirit
of schism had begun. The Pope's bulls were brought
and openly cut up with a penknife by the hand of the
Rector himself. The two envoys of the Pontiff were
loaded with ill-treatment.

At once Benedict's supporters were seized with
fear. The Dean of St Germain of Auxerre, a venerable
old man, was taken bodily by the King's men and
cast into prison on a charge of high treason.^ The
Bishop of Gap and the Abbot of St Denis were also
arrested. Guy de Roye, the Archbishop of Reims^
who had openly attacked neutrality, refused to give
explanations before the Assembly of Paris, and was
forced to seek hiding. Peter d'Ailly, who had just
come from a council held at Reims, ^ had a warrant
of indictment issued against him, and had much diffi-
culty in escaping an arrest at the hands of Walerand

^ Chronic, xxix, c. 4 if. Du Boulay, v. p. 143.
^ Marlot, Histoire de la Ville de Reims, iv. p. 144.

230

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

of St Pol.i Clemangis, one of his dearest pupils,
formerly Benedict's secretary, was obliged to withdraw
to the Chartreuse of Valprofonde at Beon, near Sens,
and he tried to end his days in oblivion there.^ It
was a cowp d'etat.

The University followed up its work of vengeance
and passion. It attacked Benedict and his supporters
with the same fury as it had lately shown in defending
them.

At Genoa, Boucicault received orders to seize the
Pontiff, if he could, and to keep him in prison. Germany
and Bohemia, Hungary and Navarre followed one
another in making the declaration of neutrality that
had been decreed by France.

An assembly met at Paris from August 11 till
November 6 to settle the details of the government
of the Church in the new state of things.^ In it a
multitude of schismatic usurpations were resolved
upon, and the bishops and provincial synods were
accorded powers that rightfully belonged to the ApostoHc
See.

The King informed the two Sacred Colleges of the
steps that had been taken, and Alma Mater wrote to
Gregory's cardinals to beg them to meet with those
of Avignon and to work together for the suppression
of the Schism.

The ground had been prepared in Italy. Grave
events had happened at Lucca, where was Gregory,

1 See Revue des Societes Savantes, 1868, 2nd half, viii. p. 139. Documents
relatifs a P. d'Ailly et decouverts au convent de Saint Julien a Cambrai, by
Lefebvbe, called Faber. Archives of the Communes of Cambrai, Inventory
List A.A., 120.

2 Epist. ad Petrum Cameracensem episcopum, xliv. p. 133 (Ed. Lydii).
Cf. Du BouLAY, V. p. 158. MtJNz, Nicholas de Clemanges, sa vie et ses
ecrits (Strasbourg, 1846).

3 Chronic, lib. xxix. 6 if. Hefele, x. p. 242.

231

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

the legitimate Pope of Rome. The differences between
him and his cardinals had become accentuated and
had assumed an acute form. On May 4, 1408, he
had convened the members of the Sacred College
and threatened them, and had tried to stifle their
protests by intimidation. He had forbidden them
to leave the town, or to meet without his expressed
permission. The cardinals fled in terror, and nine of
them gained Pisa in various disguises. Moreover, they
had long been dissatisfied with the Pope. Gregory's
obstinacy in refusing all interviews with his rival,
and his bhnd affection for his nephews, whom he had
just made cardinals, made the cup overflow, and pre-
cipitated a development that had been foreseen, and
finished the rupture.

From Pisa, the dissentient cardinals sent memorials
of an incriminatory character to Gregory and the
Christian princes, and definitely showed their intention
of joining the cardinals of the opposite side. The
Pope of Rome set himself to refute their allegations
and to bring their plans to nothing, but could not
succeed in doing so.^ Four of Benedict's cardinals
met at Leghorn, where they had an interview with those
of Gregory.

In the meanwhile the Pope at Avignon heard that
his authority was more and more set at naught at
Paris, and that his supporters had been thrown into
prison.

He wanted immediately to escape the attempts of
Boucicault, whose high-handed methods and energetic
activity he knew well. Yet the obstinate Pontiff by
no means gave up : he convoked a general council at

1 Mansi, xxvii. p. 30. Hardouin, viii. p. 143. Raynaij), 1408^ 9-19.
NiE.M, De Scismate, iii. 33. Nemus unionis, vi. 18 if.

232

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

Perpignan for the ensuing Feast of All Saints, and then,
with his soul full of bitterness, betook himself thither
by sea.i On the coast of Italy he left six of his cardinals,
who immediately joined those of Gregory.

The two Sacred CoUeges had determined to follow
up the question of Church unity in spite of everything,
and to give their adhesion henceforward to neither
one nor the other of the competitors. In case of the
death of either of the Popes, they declared that they
would appoint no successor, and that they would not
recognise any election by the rest of the cardinals
if made. On July 28, 1408, the Roman cardinals
wrote in this sense to all the faithful of Gregory's
obedience, and urged them to follow their example
and to break with him.

The Pope of Rome, finally alarmed at this insub-
ordination that threatened to become serious, tried to
pacify the dissentients by promises or threats ; but
his letters, equivocal like the weakness that yields
or distrust that holds back in reserve, had no success
whatever.

Was the peace of the Church to arise from this new
revolt ?

Were the cardinals, taking over thus abruptly
the guidance of the universal Church, directing her
efforts towards unity, and addressing the sovereigns
and bishops immediately, going to secure obedience ?
It was to be dreaded that they would not be followed
when they made use of the means they had adopted
for putting an end to the Schism. Moreover, what
would be the new procedure employed by the two

1 June 15^ 1408. This is a notable date. It is the end of the
residence of the Popes at Avignon^ which had lasted 103 years. Per-
pignan then belonged to Spain.

23S

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

colleges ? Would it succeed, when so many others had
already proved useless ?

§ 3. The Simultaneous Convocation of Three Councils.

Such were the questions that the Christian world
was asking when the assembled cardinals addressed
an encycHcal letter to the princes and prelates (July
2 and 5, 1408). They summoned them to a general
council of the two parties, which was to be held at a
town in Italy not yet specified. The cardinals took
care to inform their respective Pontiffs.

No sooner was their proposal put forth (July 6), than
Gregory on his side summoned a council to meet in
the province of Aquileia or Ravenna. Later on he
had created ten new members of his Sacred College
and had taken refuge at Rimini under the protection
of the faithful Charles Malatesta, the brother of Mala-
testa of Pesaro. He had received a letter from his
cardinals which named the place and date of the
future council of the two obediences. This meeting
was to gather at Pisa on the feast of the Annunciation,
March 25, 1409.

Benedict for his part had not acknowledged the
receipt of the very respectful letter sent him by
his cardinals. Later on he received from them a
second letter summoning him to the Council of Pisa
(November 6). This time he answered them, making
a long apology on his own account, and wondering
at the boldness of their procedure, and then he bade
them come to the council he wished to call at once at
Perpignan (November 7).^

» Bibl. Nat., Latin MS. 12,.5-12, f. 143. Cf. d'AcHERY, SpiciL, i. col. 820.
Mansi, xxvi. col. 1180.

234

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

This way of a council, at first recognised as the best,
which had been put forward so long before and had
been so persistently opposed, thus at last obtained
great, and even too great success, since three conciliar
assemblies were to meet at the same time, at Aquileia,
Pisa, and Perpignan. It was not advantageous, for
the only remedy was the meeting of a single assembly
which should unite in it prelates from both obediences
and from every quarter of Christendom.

Benedict's synod at Perpignan had little success.
The number of bishops did not exceed sixty, although
the Pope had waited some time for late- comers, and
had created for the occasion new patriarchs of Con-
stantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria.

The Pontiff of Avignon made a circumstantial
narrative of the sufferings he had endured, and of the
sacrifices he had made for the welfare and peace of
the Church. All those who were present applauded ;
but when they had to determine what should be done,
opinions were divided and the council broke up, to a
large extent without having decided anything.^ The
eighteen members who remained begged Benedict not
to be intractable, but to get ready to abdicate and to
send nuncios of acknowledged ability and with full
powers to the Council of Pisa. After raising a number
of difficulties, Benedict ended by agreeing to depute
several prelates belonging to various nations to the
future council.2

On the other hand, the increasing unpopularity of

1 Hefele, History oj the Councils, x. p. 244. Tolra de Bordas, L'Anti-
pape Benoit XIII . en RoussiUon, Revue du 7nonde cathoUque, xv., April
1866^ p. 20. EhblEj Archiv., vii. p. 576. MartJine et Durand, Coll.
ampliss., vii. 915. Mansi, xxvii. col. 907, 1079, 1089.

2 MaxXsi, xxvi. col. 1097 ff. Hardouin, vii. p. 1955 if. Niem, De
Scismate, iii. 87. Valois, iv. 49.

235

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Gregory prevented any hope of success from his Council
of Aquileia. There remained the Council of Pisa, upon
which all eyes were now turned, as well as all the anxieties
and hopes of the Catholic world. Many objections and
many obstacles arose as to the plan of the cardinals
who had abandoned the Popes. Never had the Catholic
world been in an analogous position, and never has
such a case of canon law occurred since the fifteenth
century.

It was separation from their head ; was it a usurpa-
tion of powers ? Was it appealing to rebellion to
re-establish order ? Was it not, on the other hand, a
natural method of putting an end to a Schism that
w^as in danger of becoming chronic ?

The two Pontiffs protested against the proceedings
of the cardinals, who, according to them, could not
convoke a council without the Pope. They relied
upon several texts of canon law, and an anonymous
writer summed up their arguments in a pamphlet that
created a great sensation at the time.^

In general, however, these legal subtleties, literal
interpretations, and legal scruples found no echo
among the prelates, nor particularly amidst the great
schools.

The Universities of Paris, Oxford, and Bologna, that
is to say, the three most authoritative voices of Christian
learning, had given advice in accordance with the
desires of the cardinals, and highly approved their
conduct. They took their stand in the main on the
difficulty of the times and circumstances, on the natural
and divine right of the Church, in virtue of her con-
stitution, to discover in herself the means of maintaining
and recovering, if needs be, her essential unity.-

1 M^Nsi, xxvii. p. 223. ^ ij. Mart^ne et Durand, vii. col. 81)4 and 898.

236

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

Nevertheless Bologna went too far when it claimed
that when a Pope has pledged himself to restore peace
to the Church when she has been troubled by an intruder,
and does not fulfil his promise, a simple provincial
council may refuse him obedience.^

France, indeed, had ventured to give this example in
lately withdrawing her obedience from Benedict ; but if
the Church ever admitted this principle, she would give
her solemn sanction to utter anarchy within her borders.
Is it not a point to which a saying of Bossuet's applies :
" If there are strong examples for, there are strong
reasons against " ?

D'Ailly openly declared in favour of the Council in
several works publicly approved by theologians and
jurists. On the way to Pisa with Cardinal de Bar,'^ he
passed through Aix, Tarascon, and Genoa, and in
writings dated from each of these towns he asserted the
absolute right of the cardinals, as well as the duty of the
two rival Popes, to send representatives to the future
meeting and to obey its decisions.^

Gerson added his voice to that of his illustrious friend,
and gave the Council of Pisa the benefit of his popularity.*

1 Cf. Mabt^ne et DuRAND, vii. col. 896.

2 Louis de Bar was connected by birth with the royctl family of France.
He was Canon of Cambrai in 1403, and then became successively Bishop
of LangreSj Chalons, and Verdun. He had been created cardinal by
Benedict in 1397- He died in July 1430.

^ Two of these documents, those of Aix and of Genoa, are in the com-
plete works of Gerson, ii. col. 110 and 112. The editor ascribes them to
Gerson himself, but d'Ailly claims them as his own in his Apologia Concilii
Pisani. Cf. Tschackert, Peter von Ailli, App. xii. p. 31 if. The third,
dated Tarascon, is in Mart^ne et Durand, Veter. Script., vii. col. 916.

* De auferibilitate Papae, De unitate ecclesiastica, Propositio facta coram
Anglicis, etc., 0pp. Gersonii, ii. col. 113 if. Gerson is not the author of
Octo conclusiones quarum dogmatizatio utilis videtur ad ejcterminationem
moderni schismatis, 0pp. Gers., ii. col. 110. Martj^ne et Durand, vii.
col. 892. This work is rightly claimed by d'Ailly in the Apologia Concilii

237

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Zabarella, as we have seen, claims for the Emperor the
right of calhng a general council,^ while Niem, never very-
friendly to the Popes, recalls the history of Otho I., who
convoked a council to depose John XII. He takes
advantage of the circumstance to attack the Papacy in
terms that recall those of Wichffe, and for which certain
members of the Councils of Paris had unfortunately
provided him with a precedent (1398 and 1406). For all
of them a scandal-giving Pope is i'pso facto deprived of
all right of command.^

In all these tracts, which are sometimes strange in
doctrine, one sees a fatal consequence of the disputes of
the School and of the deep perplexity that the Schism
had caused even in the most highly gifted minds. We
repeat ^ that these opinions are barely less than a clear
echo of the doctrines of MarsiKus of Padua and WilHam
Occam, and the troubles of the Church had only
accentuated them.

§ 4. Christendom becomes more and more Divided,

The grave question of the council not only engrossed
the attention of theologians, it also interested the King
of the Romans and German politicians.

Robert of Bavaria, elected in place of Wenceslas,^ was

Pisani in MS. at St Mark's Library, Venice, Latin cod. 120, f. 93. Richer
and Ellies-Dupin have attributed to Gerson many documents of the time
which were not composed by the famous chancellor, e.g. the De modifi
uniendi. A revision of his works is desirable. Bossuet asked for it even
in his days, Defensio declar., p. ii. lib. v. c. 12. He only had Richer's
edition (Paris, U506).

^ See his treatise in Schardius, De jurisdiction e imperiali, p. (j<j(j.

- De Scinmate, iii. Ii to 12. Simon de Cramaud, Peter le Roy, Giles des
Cliamps, Matthew de Krakow, and Gerson all use the same lang-uage.

3 See chapter vi. of this work, p. 110.

■* (.y. chapter ix. of this work, p. 179.

238

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

a convinced partisan of the Pope of Rome, whose pre-
decessor Boniface had deposed his rival to the Empire in
1403. He had received an ambassador from the Council
of Pisa, the Cardinal Landulph de Bari, but had given
him an icy reception. At the diet of Frankfort he had
bestowed all his favours on Gregory's nephew, Antony
Corrario, whom the Pope had just sent to Germany as
legate.

The King had even allowed Antony in full meeting
to insult the cardinals gathered at Pisa, and in particular
their ambassador Landulph, in spite of the murmurs
of the nobles and prelates. '^

Did Robert desire to profit by the discord between the
Pope and Wenceslas to strengthen his position on the
imperial throne and to get himself crowned with the
crown of the Caesars at the hands of his protege Gregory
XII. ? Did he hope to play once more the part of
Astolph, of Henry of Franconia, and of Frederick
Barbarossa, and to unite all Italy under one sceptre,
that of the Emperor of Germany ? Some have thought
so. So would Dante have had it, and after him many
writers who were more patriotic than catholic.

But, at this time, the King of the Romans feared
above all things the influence of France. Gregory
showed him the cardinals acting on behalf of Charles VI.
and seeking to attack and ruin the Empire. The future
council would only be an instrument of French policy.

Robert, tossed to and fro between his ambition and
his fears, had little confidence in the result of the efforts
of the assembly that was gathering at Pisa. Never-
theless he agreed to send three representatives to the
council, and we shall presently see the part they had to
play.

^ NiEM, De Scismate, lib. iii. 89.

239

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

In the South of Italy the council hardly met with
more favourable dispositions. The ambitious Ladislas
reigned at Naples, and he too has his place amongst the
many who have dreamt of Italian unity. In the centre
and the North he wanted to crush successively all the
little republics that were so proud of their independence,
and to establish his supremacy from Bologna to Bari,
and from Florence to Reggio. Aut Caesar aut nihil was
his proud motto. He had already obtained important
concessions from Gregory, and forced himself upon him
as an imperious protector, and took upon himself to
raise taxes in the Papal States.^

He rightly feared, too, the warlike spirit of Louis II.
of Anjou, who had abandoned none of his father's claims
to the throne of Naples, and who was getting ready to
make them good by force.

To succeed in his ambition and to triumph over his
rival, the King of Naples must have the Pope acknow-
ledged in the whole of Italy, and keep him as an
obliging ally, if not as a submissive accomplice. Like
Robert, and for the same object, he held to the friend-
ship and aUiance of Gregory XII. Thus the Pontiff
appeared to be delivered over beforehand as a victim
to the covetousness of these two royal personages.

Unfortunately for the ruler of Naples, his plans failed
miserably. Found out by the Florentines, who made a
formidable league against him, and forced to give up the
Papal States, Ladislas had to return to Naples with an
army that was still numerous, but disgraced. His
attack was as wanting in success as in principle.

Happily for Gregory he had a more substantial ally,
one more faithful to the Church and less anxious for his

1 Maxsi, xxvi. pp. 1139, 1219. Hardouin, viii. pp. 8 and 79.
Gregorovils, Geschichte der Stadt Bom, vi. p. 605.

^40

THE CARDINALS FORSAKE THE POPES

own political interests, in the person of Charles Mala-
testa, Lord of Rimini. This prince was an eloquent and
chivalrous protector to the Pope of Rome, and he
would have saved the position for the Pontiff had it
been possible to save it.

He was almost alone in his disinterested fidelity to the
old Roman Pope, deserted by his cardinals and sur-
rounded with equivocal, self-interested, or compromising
aUies. A noble type of prince is Malatesta ; a figure
that stands out alone amidst all the sovereigns of the
period.

From this date onwards, the Great Schism enters upon
a new phase. Of all the methods proposed for putting
an end to religious division, one only is left : it is that of
a general council. All other projects or expedients,
whether they were the outcome of an honest heart or of
fanciful prepossession, have failed one after the other.
Whether these ways be called cession, compromise, the
"way of action "under Clement VH., or of a con-
vention under Benedict XIII., they have been given
up in turn.

Christendom was now face to face with, on the one
hand, two Popes without cardinals, and on the other,
confronted with cardinals without a Pope. France,
moreover, after many fluctuations, had resolved to leave
the Pontiff of Avignon who had refused to enter into
her views, and to prosecute and punish Benedict's most
intelligent and determined supporters, the true heads of
the French Church.

The situation was more extraordinary, more acute,
more critical than ever. Kings, prelates, and peoples,
too long deceived, ceased to reckon on the goodwill of
the rival Popes ; they were about to act independently
of them, in spite of them, and sometimes against them.
Q 241

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

They had resolved to rely upon the Sacred Colleges
gathered at Pisa to bring success by way of a general
council, which, after years of effort, after new and
tragical vicissitudes, was at last to restore unity and
peace to the Church.

242

CHAPTER XIII

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

§ 1. Opening of the Assembly.

The cardinals had had a happy inspiration in selecting
Pisa as the seat of the council which was to put an end
to the Schism that had lasted far too long.

Divided by the Arno into two unequal parts, this
famous town had long seen ships coming in with the
treasures of the West and the spoils of the East. For
three centuries its hardy sailors had furrowed all the seas,
winning victories over the fleets and armies of Genoa,
Lucca, and Florence, and conquering kingdoms among
the infidels at the time of the crusades.

Later on, intestine divisions amongst the citizens,
frequent rebeUions of the subjects who inspired in more
than one prince a dread of Ugohno's fate in the Tower of
Hunger, the ardour that urged the republic in its fealty
to the Guelphs against the other GhibelHne cities of
Tuscany, a series of deadly epidemics that had ravaged
the city, the repeated exactions of condottieri who
overran and laid waste the country, and the taking of
the town by the Florentines (1406) lowered the renown
and diminished the forces and lessened the riches of
these proud rulers of the sea.^

At the time of the meeting of the august assembly,

1 MuRATORi, XV. p. 973 ; xiv. p. 641. Tartini, Chroniche della cittd de
Pisa del Vincenzio Collp:tti, i. p. 311.

243

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Pisa had lost some of the rays of its ancient glory : it was
only a secondary town of Tuscany, and, so to say, a
shadow of its former self. Then, as to-day, it was
wrapped in the calm and poetic sadness of fallen cities.
Such is Bruges on the North Sea ; such, on the Mediter-
ranean, is Aigues-Mortes, where the crusaders of St
Louis embarked of yore. Thus Pisa, still filled with
memories of its ancient splendour, and henceforward
sitting in quiet solitude, seemed to be particularly fitted
for appeasement and for the negotiations which were
being arranged.^

To the right of the Arno, now without ships, to the
north of the old city, extends a solitary district which,
from an artistic point of view, remains one of the wonders
of the world. There was first of all the cathedral that
was to receive the fathers of the council, with its fine
naves, its hundred yards of length, its flying cupola,
and its columns of white marble with their varied
incrustation. A thousand victorious trophies reminded
Christians of the Pisan expeditions against the Saracens.

Then, by the side of the basilica was the eleventh
century baptistery, with its superb pillars and artistic
bas-reliefs. It was the Camj)o Santo, an incomparable
cemetery where slept in earth brought from Mount
Calvary twenty generations of Pisans.

It was on the walls of this building that Bennozzo
Gozzoli, Lorenzetti, and other artists were to paint the
most wonderful scenes from Scripture and the triumph
of Death. But the most unique marvel was the leaning
tower, with its colonnades and galleries, its airy peals of
bells, and above all, with its startling slant. Doubtless
its appearance more than once suggested to the fathers
a striking comparison. Was there not here, they might

1 NiEM, De Scismate, iii. 26, p. 262.

244

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

have asked, an image of the Church that then seemed
to totter to its fall, and which, humanly speaking, had
never been so near ruin. But she had promises of life
eternal, and soon her bells would proclaim her triumph
over death.

Such indeed was the result desired by the four
patriarchs, the twenty-two cardinals, and the eighty
bishops who were to compose this Council of Peace. An
imposing procession wended its way on March 25, 1409,
through the streets of the city. Starting from St
Michael's Church, on the banks of the Arno, it betook
itself to the cathedral, which opened to welcome the
members of the council. Besides the prelates, one
might note amidst the ranks of the clergy the repre-
sentatives of more than a hundred bishops who were
absent, eighty-seven abbots with the proxies of those
who had not been able to reach Pisa, and forty-one
priors and generals of orders.

Before them marched in splendid military array the
armed defenders of Christendom, the Grand-Master of
Rhodes with sixteen commanders, the Prior-General of
the Order of St Sepulchre, the General-Procurator of the
Teutonic Order. The deputies of the University of
Paris and of the other Universities of the Christian
world might have saluted on their way that other abode
of science, which was to be honoured by Galileo, and
which was called the University of Pisa. Three hundred
doctors of theology and canon law, and the ambassadors
of all the kingdoms of Christendom completed the train,
which was the finest that had ever been seen in the
ancient capital of the Pisans.

Cardinal de Malesset, Bishop of Preneste, was ap-
pointed president. We have already made the acquaint-
ance of this prelate, whom his great age marked out for

245

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

this honour, for alone among his colleagues he owed his
dignity to Gregory XI., the last Pope before the Schism.^

Next day, Peter Philarghi ascended the pulpit and
vigorously assailed the two Popes. It was he who a few
months later would be elected to take their place.

Legal proceedings commenced at once. Two cardinal
deacons, two archbishops, two bishops, and two notaries
solemnly advanced towards the doors of the Church, had
them opened, and summoned the two rival Pontiffs in a
loud voice in Latin. No one replied. " Is anyone
bidden to represent them ? " they added. The silence
was unbroken.

The delegates returned to their places and requested
that Gregory and Benedict should be pronounced
contumacious.

Three days in succession the same solemn ceremony
was gone through, with the same absence of result. The
formal declaration of contumacy, however, was only
pronounced at the fourth session.

Then the Council of Pisa truly began. It passed
through three phases, and ended in the election of the
new Pope. We shall note at first the exercise of German
pressure, and then of Italian influence ; and at last, the
episode of Aragon will precipitate the final issue.

§ 2. The Germans at Pisa,

At the beginning of 1409, it has been said that
Cardinal Landulph of Bari had been sent to Frankfort by
his brethren of the two obediences to invite the German
prelates and princes to come to the Council of Pisa.

^ The nephew of this Pope, he was made a cardinal at Avignon on
December 20, 1375, and long had the title of Cardinal of Poitiers. At
first a partisan of Urban's, he had subsequently come over to the obedience
of Clement. He died at Paris in 1412.

246

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

The Pope of Rome had, moreover, always upheld
Robert, who very fairly gave him his support in return.
Furthermore, the fathers of the council, at the instiga-
tion of the same Cardinal of Bari, declared openly for his
rival Wenceslas of Bohemia, who was represented at the
assembly.

This led to the sending of a deputation to Pisa that
was unfavourable to the plans of the assembled cardinals,
and entrusted with the raising of difficulties. These
German ambassadors were John, Archbishop of Riga,
Matthew, Bishop of Worms, and Ulrich, Bishop of
Verden. On April 15, these prelates appeared at the
fourth session of the council, and Archbishop John
solemnly addressed the assembly. He put forth, one
after the other, twenty-three objections, a great number
of which are excellent, but which had the disadvantage
of being presented without order or logical connection.

In the first articles, the delegates dispute the lawful-
ness of the initiative taken by the Sacred College when it
refused obedience to Gregory. They denied that the
cardinals had any authority to summon a council ; for
this right belonged only to the Pope, i.e, Gregory, who
had been fairly elected, recognised, and proclaimed.
Moreover, if his election was illegal, how could the
cardinals whom he had appointed be sure of the legiti-
macy of their titles ? Next the deputies disputed the
legality of the uniting of the two colleges, on the ground
that only the nomination of the cardinals of one of the
two parties could be considered regular.

So far, nothing could have been better. But the
envoys went on to discuss the dates, and reproached the
council with having indicated beforehand the object
they had in view. This was " to limit the action of the
Holy Spirit," they said. But, on the contrary, at the

247

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

end the deputies appeared to recognise the legitimacy
of the Assembly of Pisa, and were perplexed at the final
refusal of Benedict, and made out that the interval
allowed for coming to the council was too short.

In conclusion, they proposed to the assembled fathers
to ask Gregory to select another meeting-place.

A canon of Spires, Conrad of Soest, undertook to give
the Synod in writing the long hst of these propositions.
There is no need to cast any doubt upon the goodwill of
Robert's envoys, but the mihtant disposition of the
assembled prelates would not admit of their giving a
kindly reception to such criticisms and urgent difficulties.
In reahty, the effect on the members of the council was
grievous for the Germans. They felt this so clearly that
they quitted Pisa, as if they were fugitives, on April 21 ,i
leaving behind them a new document, in which they
aggravated the clumsiness of their criticisms by the
violence of their protests. They did not wait for the
answer of the fathers. The latter thought it their duty
to make one, nevertheless, and entrusted the drawing up
of this reply to the learned professor of Bologna, Peter of
Ancorano, one of the lights of the council.^

We will not enter into these legal discussions in detail.
The eminent master sums up the criticisms of the
German delegates under four heads, and explains the
ideas of the prelates of Pisa as to the withdrawal of
obedience, the summoning of the council, the invitation
of Gregory to attend the meeting, and as to the union of
the two colleges of cardinals. This vigorous reasoning

1 Mansi, xxvi. p. 1188. Hardouin, viii. p. 49. Hefele, x. p. 255.
6/: Pastor, Histoire des Papes, i. p. 200. J. Weizsacker, Deutsche
lieichstagsakten , vi. p. 496.

2 Cf. Fabricius, Bibl. medii ovi, i. p. 235 ; v. 713; vi. 34(5. Tiraboschi,
Storia lett. ital., ii. p. 370. Schulte, Geschichte des canonischen Rechts
(Stuttgart, 1877), ii. 278.

248

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

almost always gave a sufficient answer to the objections
of the envoys of the King of the Romans. ^

§ 3. The Italians at Pisa,

Very different and much more skilful was the line
taken by Charles Malatesta, Prince of Rimini. While
Robert, as an awkward friend, was compromising the
otherwise excellent case for Gregory, Charles defended
it as a man of letters, an orator, a politician, and as a
chivalrous defender.

First he tried to bring about a reconciliation between
the Pope and the fathers, and suggested to four of the
cardinals to change the place of the conference, or to put
it off.

The Cardinal of Albano repHed in the name of his
colleagues : " It is the two claimants who themselves
mentioned the name of Pisa. It is there that the Popes
have been summoned to appear. The cardinals have
no right to change the place, for the previous summons
would then be null. Moreover, many members are
present, others are coming, and a great number of
ambassadors are on the way. All change of this kind
would be unbecoming."

Malatesta replied : " The conditions upon which
Gregory accepted Pisa have changed. Besides, the
essential point is the peace of the Church, and the Pope
will do everything he can to secure it. Let the cardinals
take care : if they continue their present line of action
they will have three Popes instead of one." '

The cardinals replied in substance : " Let Gregory

^ Mansi^ xxvii. p. 367. Hefele, x. p. 271.

2 HefelEj X. p. 260. MARTi;NE et Duband^ Veter, Script., vii. p. 1005.
MansIj xxviii. p. 252.

249

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

come to Pisa or decide to abdicate at Rimini. What
a joy it would be for your city, Prince ! What a glory,
too, for it would be there that the election of the future
Pope would take place."

" I want neither the honour of my capital nor my
own," Malatesta was pleased to observe, " I only want
the welfare of the Church."

The negotiations made no progress. The council
then named a commission, composed of the Archbishop
of Pisa, the Bishop of Cambrai, and two other members,
to address fresh entreaties to the protector of the
Roman Pope. D'Ailly in particular exerted himself
to show that he ought to persuade Gregory to yield or
to force him to do so. He tried to prove to him that
the proposal to change the place of the council was
contrary to law, and could only injure the restoration
of peace.

Malatesta was not at all convinced.

In another interview, the Cardinal of Milan, Peter
Philarghi, was no more successful. To a promise of
abdication made by the prince he replied : " Gregory
will not abdicate : he clings to reigning too much."
The prince replied with vivacity : " There are people
who would not hesitate to overthrow the Church to
ascend the see of St Peter. How can you wonder if
Gregory requires urging to get him to leave it ? "
" I have no ambition for the tiara," replied Philarghi.
" Perhaps, though, you would have no great repugnance
to putting it on some day," replied Malatesta. And
herein the Prince of Rimini prophesied true.

Finally, for the good of the Church, the cardinals
consented to an interview with Gregory at Pistoia.
Malatesta offered to do his best to get the Roman
Pontiff to accept this rendezvous and left for Rimini.

250

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

But when he gave the Pope an account of his mission
and its result, the feeble old man began to weep.
" What am I to do ? " he cried. " If I accept, I betray
my supporters and my family ; if I refuse, I raise great
scandal in the Church."

Malatesta insisted energetically and eloquently and
urged the Pontiff to go to Pistoia. " Never will I go
to a town depending upon Florence," said Gregory in
reply. " Besides, I could not abandon my neighbours,
like King Robert of the Palatinate and King Ladislas
of Naples, my devoted supporters." This was all that
could be obtained : henceforward his destiny was to
be rapidly fulfilled.

§ 4. The Aragon Incident.

There remained the intractable and crafty Benedict,
who, in retirement at the foot of the Pyrenees, had not
yet given up all hope of seeing the triumph of his cause.
His deputies were awaited at Pisa from moment to
moment, and they were deliberating as to how they
should be received by the council. In spite of a few
members of the Sacred College who were still attached
to the Pope of Avignon, it was declared that his
ambassadors should be treated with no sort of honours.
After many deliberations the synod also proclaimed
that the union of the cardinals of the two obediences
was in accordance with law, and that the assembly had
been lawfully convened. It affirmed, moreover, that
the Council of Pisa was a true oecumenical council,
enjoying the authority of the highest tribunal in the
world, and having a sovereign right to decide between
the two claimants.

The members of the council arrived in larger and

251

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

larger numbers from every part of Christian Europe.
It was then that, in order to estabhsh greater order
amongst the different special congregations, it was
thought advisable to have each country represented
by a certain number of delegates, and to give out opinions
nation by nation. There were four, those of France,
Italy, England, and Germany. Later on we shall see
the Council of Constance use the same method of pro-
cedure, unknown to former synods.

The assembly, after drawing up a memorial of all
the incidents of the Schism, asked each of its members
to abandon the obedience of Benedict and Gregory,
declared to be obstinate.

Nearly the whole of the month of May was devoted
to taking the evidence of witnesses against the two
claimants. Then, on May 2S, the assembly outhned
the sentence that was to be pronounced. Numerous
masters of the University took part in the debates,
and were not among the least ardent in their condem-
nation of the Pope of Rome and even of Avignon.

On this date the cardinals received Benedict's bulls.
" I have taken knowledge of your summons to the
council," he declared, "but I shall not come, and I
forbid you to elect another Pope in my place."

They took no notice, and on June 5, 1409, met for
the fifteenth solemn session. The cardinals fulfilled
for the last time the formahty of citing the claimants
at the gates of the Church, then the procurators of the
council demanded that a definite condemnation should
be pronounced against Peter de Luna and Angelo
Corrario.

The fathers of Pisa were about to return a sentence
until then unexampled in the history of the Church.
All were stirred when the Patriarch of Alexandria,

252

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

Simon de Cramaud, addressed the august meeting :
" Benedict XIII. and Gregory XII.," said he, " are
recognised as schismatics, the approvers and makers
of schism, notorious heretics, guilty of perjury and
violation of solemn promises, and openly scandalising
the universal Church. In consequence, they are de-
clared unworthy of the Sovereign Pontificate, and are
ipso facto deposed from their functions and dignities,
and even driven out of the Church. It is forbidden
to them henceforward to consider themselves to be
Sovereign Pontiffs, and all proceedings and promotions
made by them are annulled. The holy See is declared
vacant and the faithful are set free from their promise
of obedience.^

Scarcely had the patriarch done reading this grave
sentence, when joyful applause broke out in the vast
enclosure. The Te Deum was sung, and a solemn pro-
cession was ordered next day, the feast of Corpus
Christi.

All the members of the august assembly appended
their signatures to the grave deed of condemnation
that had just been pronounced.

Thereupon there entered the council the ambassadors
of the King of Aragon, who had to announce that the
nuncios of Benedict had finally reached Pisa. These
envoys were abbots and religious, among whom was
Boniface Ferrier, the brother of St Vincent.^ They

1 Hardouin^ Condi. , viii. p. 85 if. Von der Hardt, llerum Cone, oecum.
Constant., ii. col. 136.

2 Like his brother, Boniface was a violent partisan of Benedict's. He
wrote a vehement letter against the French who were present at the
council, and especially against the Bishop of Cambrai. Here is the title
of his pamphlet — Specula contra vasa irae super haeretica pravitate pisana,
Mart^ne et DuRAND, Thesaurus, ii. col. 1447. Peter d'Ailly replied with
his Apologia Concilii Pisani, recently printed in the Peter von Ailli, by
TscHACKERT, Appendix, p. 31.

253

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

had not come to bring Benedict's adhesion to the con-
cilia! meeting ; they had only been ordered to publish
Benedict's renunciation, if Gregory did the same, a
conditional clause that savoured of mockery in the
circumstances.

They made their entry into the council on June 14,
but their pretension soon aroused the protests, and then
the ironical laughter, of those v^ho were present. The
people of Pisa gave them a still more unfavourable
reception, and at times heaped threats and insults upon
them. The chancellor of Aragon was heard somewhat
impatiently, and the Archbishop of Tarragona raised
a terrible uproar when he began his speech thus :
'' We are the nuncios of the only true Pope, Benedict
XIII." It was a declaration of war that showed more
audacity than capacity.

Moreover, the ambassadors soon saw that all their
proceedings at the council would be fruitless, and that
everything was being got ready for the election of a
new Pope. It was necessary to inform them that their
lives would be in danger if they persisted in upholding
the so-called rights of the Pontiff of Avignon. In
much fear the envoys left the town secretly and tried
to reach Gregory. For this purpose they asked
Balthazar Cossa, then the governor of Bologna, for a
safe- conduct. " Whether they come with or without
a safe- conduct," he replied with brutality, '' let them
know this, that if I take them, I will have them burnt
alive." ^ More and more alarmed, the nuncios of
Benedict returned to their master.

The latter did not allow himself to be cast down by

^ Mart^ine et DuBANDj Veter. Script., vii. p. 1112. Thesaurus, iii.
p. 1476. Hardouin, viii. 17, B9. Lenfant, Histoire du Concile de Pise,
p. 284.

254

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

these repeated blows, but appointed twelve new cardinals
to carry on the Schism which he had done so much to
bring into being and to prolong.^ It was a vexatious
expedient to add to so many others, and it aggravates
the responsibility of its author in the eyes of the Church
and of posterity.

§ 5. The Election of Alexander V,

All was ready for the conclave which, according to
the hopes of the Sacred College, would bring about
the unity of the Church. On June 15, the cardinals
met in the archiepis copal palace of Pisa to proceed with
the election. The conclave lasted eleven days. Few
obstacles intervened from outside to delay the election
of the new Pope. Within, it is said, there were a few
intrigues concocted for the election of a French Pope.
But at last, through the influence of the energetic and
ingenious Cossa, the votes were unanimously cast in
favour of Peter Philarghi, a cardinal who took his
title from the twelve apostles. He was elected on
June 26, 1409, and took the name of Alexander V.

Like Silvester II., Saint Gregory VIL, Adrian IV.,
and several other Pontiffs, Alexander was of the humblest
extraction.2 It is hardly known whether he was of
Greek or Italian origin. He had been forsaken by his
parents from his earliest years, and spent his childhood
at Candia, where he begged his bread. A Friar Minor,
who took an interest in him, educated him, made him

1 NiEM, Be Scismate, lib. iii. 14, p. 310. Ciaconius, Historia Pontif.
Roman, et Cardin., ii. p. 741.

2 In 1881 appeared a Greek biography of Alexander, entitled : MdpKov
"PevUpTj 'l(XTopiKai MeXerat. d"E\\r]p Udiras 'AXe^avSpos el To ^v^avriov Kali] ev
BocrtAci^ SlVoSos. C^. Pastor, i. p. 200.

266

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

join the order, and then took him to Italy. A student
of Oxford, a doctor and then a professor of Paris, he was
distinguished ahke as master and preacher, and showed
himself a determined supporter of Urban VI. Recalled
to Italy, he became the tutor of the son of John Visconti,
Duke of Milan ; and subsequently was Bishop of
Placenza (1386), Vicenza (1387), and then of Novara
(1389). In 1402 ^ he was advanced to be Archbishop of
Milan, and Innocent VII. invested him with the purple.
Under Gregory XII. he actively took the side of the
dissentients ; he discharged certain important negotia-
tions with undoubted success, and largely contributed to
the meeting of the Council of Pisa.

His election was expected and hoped for ; and as soon
as the sound of bells made it known, everyone hastened
to testify his respectful joy to him. Perhaps many of
the greetings were interested, for they knew that the new
Pontiff could not resolve to refuse a favour. Munificent
kindliness was the salient feature of his character. Niem
himself, who shows little friendliness as a rule when the
Roman Pontiff is in question, is forced to praise his
generosity of disposition.- Alexander was solemnly
crowned, on July 7, by the Cardinal of Saluzzo, in
the midst of general rejoicings, for everyone thought
that the Schism was ended for ever.

The new Pope hastened to send legates to all the
sovereigns of Christendom to announce his election, and
he received from every quarter of the world marks of
lively sympathy for himself and for the position of the
Church. Charles VI. wrote to him, through his secretary

^ Cf. Gams, Series epucoporiim, p. 70(5 (Ratisbon, 1873).

2 Niem, p. 321. Cf. De difficultate reformationis in Concilio universali
(August 1410). This work was long ascribed to d'Ailly, but it is pro-
bably by Thierry de Niem : this is Lenz's opinion, and also Schwab's and
Hergenroether's. 0pp. Gersonii, ii. col. 872.

256

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

John de Montreuil,^ and France honoured the humble
Friar Minor, now Pope, as if he were descended from
royal blood. He presided over the four last sessions of
the council, confirmed all the ordinances made by the
cardinals after their refusal of obedience, and united
into one the two Sacred Colleges. He subsequently
declared that he would work energetically for reform in
concert with the elite of the prelates of every nation.
Nevertheless,^ Alexander immediately distributed fav-
ours and privileges with both hands, particularly to
the Minors and Angus tinians, and gave his friends
bishoprics and abbeys with too much generosity. It
was a bad way of beginning reform by acting thus
inconsistently with it.

The assembly, before breaking up, took several fresh
legal measures, and settled certain circumstances to the
greatest advantage of the prelates, abbots, and nobles ;
another fatal example given by the expiring council.
Nevertheless, it was resolved that in three years' time,
that is to say, in 1412, another general council should
meet, and that in the meantime metropoHtans should
convene provincial councils and look into the question of
reform with them. These decisions were undoubtedly
sincere, but it gives one a painful impression to see the
bishops and abbots thinking of increasing their personal
powers, and diminishing the charges they had to pay
before thinking of their own amendment. "E^ haec
fuit ipsa reformatio ultro fromissa ! " cries a con-
temporary in sorrow, " Such is their long-promised

1 Cf. MARTfeNE et DuRAND, Vetev. Script., ii. col. 1374. Mgr.
HautcceuRj Histoire de Saint Pierre de Lille, ii. p. 161.

- Later on the French deputies protested at the Council of Rome ag-ainst
these exaggerated favours^ at which the University of Paris was very dis-
satisfied. Cf. FiNKE, Acta Concilii Constant.^ i. p. 162.

R 257

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

reform ! " ^ It might be feared that deeds would not
correspond with words, and that the reform, so persever-
ingly hoped for, so openly proclaimed, would yet remain
long a dead letter.

In the meantime, Gregory XII. endeavoured to
assemble a council at Cividale in Frioul. Hardly anyone
attended, and sentences were pronounced that the
precarious position of the Pope made necessarily in-
effective. The results were such that the Pontiff deposed
at Pisa had to fly disguised as a merchant (September 6,
1409).

As for Benedict, he saw his soldiers obliged to leave
Avignon before the French troops, and he prudently
made haste to cross the Pyrenees and to place himself
more and more under the protection of his royal friend,
Martin of Aragon.^ He was leaning on an already
bruised reed. On May 31, 1410, King Martin breathed
his last, and the obstinate Benedict was deprived by
Providence of one of his best supporters.

§ 6. Judgment on the Council of Pisa,

Despite the checks received by the condemned
claimants, what was the position of the Church in law
and in fact at the end of 1409 ?

The right of the cardinals to convene a general council
to put an end to the Schism seemed to themselves
indisputable. It was a consequence of the natural
principle, as has been already observed, that demands for
a large corporation the capacity of discovering within

1 Mansi, xxvi. p. 1090 ff. Raynald, a. 1409. L. Schmitz, Jiiimische
quartalschrift, 1894, p. 245 ff.

2 ToLRA DE BoRDAS, V Autipupe Beuoit XIII. en Roussillon, Remie da
Monde catholiquej xv. p. 24 (1866).

258

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

itself a means of safety : Solus populi suprema lex esto.
Everything must be subject to the safety of the Church,
and to the preservation of her indispensable unity.
Moreover, the tergiversations and at times the perjuries
of the two pretenders seemed to justify the united
Sacred Colleges. " Never," said they, " shall we succeed
in ending the Schism while these two obstinate persons
are at the head of the opposing parties. There is no
undisputed Pope who can summon a general council. As
the Pope is doubtful, the Holy See must be considered
vacant. We have therefore a lawful mandate to elect
a Pope who will be undisputed, and to convoke the
universal Church that her adhesion may strengthen our
decision." Famous Universities urged and upheld the
cardinals in this way.^

And yet, from the theological and juridical point of
view, their reasoning might seem false, dangerous, and
revolutionary. For if Gregory and Benedict were
doubtful, so were the cardinals whom they had created.
If the fountain of their authority was uncertain, so was
their competence to convoke the universal Church and
to elect a Pope. Plainly this is arguing in a circle.
How, then, could Alexander V., elected by them, have
indisputable rights to the recognition of the whole of
Christendom ? Further, it was to be feared that certain
spirits would make use of this temporary expedient to
transform it into a general rule and to proclaim the
superiority of the Sacred College and of the Council to
the Pope.

This is, indeed, what happened. Zabarella, appointed

1 This is the principle extolled in the treatise that has so long been
attributed to Gerson^ Ue modis uniendi Ecclesiam . . . 0pp. Gersonii ii.
col. 163. Cf. Pastor, i. 203. Lenz, Drei Traktate aus dem Schriftencyklus
des Constanzer Concils Untersuckt (Marburg_, 1876)_, p. 29.

259

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

cardinal later on, had already laid it down as a principle
that the Sacred College should be like a permanent com-
mission set over the government of the Church, to the
detriment of the Holy See.^ For him the Pontiff is only
the first minister of the Church, the cafut ministeriale.
Later on, Richer and his school spoke in much the same
strain. The same Zabarella dares also to affirm that,
when the College of Cardinals cannot or will not convoke
the council, this right belongs to the Emperor : a theory
of which the application will be seen at Constance. The
spirit of Caesar succeeds to that of revolution : this is
part of the constitution and logic of facts.

The means used by the cardinals could not succeed
even temporarily. The position of the Church became
still more precarious : instead of two heads, there were
three : three wandering Popes, persecuted and exiled
from their capitals. The two first obediences did not
disappear, and they only succeeded in making a fresh
one. Yet, from certain points of view, the position of
Alexander is better than that of Clement VII. and
Benedict XIII. He was not elected in opposition to a
generally recognised Pontiff, nor by schismatic methods.
An almost general opinion asserts that both he and his
successor John XXIII. were true Popes.^ If the
Pontiffs of Avignon had a colourable title in their own
obedience, such a title can be made out still more
clearly for Alexander V. in the eyes of the universal
Church.

1 This famous treatise entitled De schismatihus auctoritate imperatoris
tollendis is published in Schardius^ De jurlsdictione imperiali,j)ip. 688_, 741.
Cf. M. Lenz, loc. cit., p. 71. Plaoul had already maintained this principle
at the Council of Paris in 1406. Cf. Bourgeois du Chastenet, Preuves,
p. 191.

2 Beli^rmine, De ConciL, lib. i. c. 8. Muzzarelli, De auctor, Rom,
pontificis, ii. p 414. Tosti, Storia del Concilio di Costanza, i. p. 56.

260

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

In fact, the Pope of Pisa was acknowledged by the
majority of the Church, i.e. by France, England,
Portugal, Bohemia, Prussia, a few countries of Germany
and Italy, and then by the Comtat-Venaissin,^ whilst
Naples, Poland, Bavaria, and part of Germany continued
to obey Gregory, and Spain and Scotland persisted in
remaining subject to Benedict.

Thus the election of Alexander did not immediately
bring about the peace that many of the faithful had
hoped for. Peter d'Ailly, one of the most far-seeing men
of his time, had foreseen this result, and had not at all
hidden his apprehensions. " If the council makes a
new election," he wrote, " it will not do to go on with it
before making sure of the adhesion of the whole of
Christendom, or at any rate of the greater part of it. . , .
Otherwise it would be grafting a new schism on the old
one, and the second mistake would be worse than the
first." 2

He was not heeded by the fathers of Pisa, who, con-
fident of their omnipotence, were desirous of hastening
on the solution and refused to take the precautions that
were desirable for bringing it about. At the time of the
convening of the council they did not trouble to prepare
public opinion and to withdraw it gradually from the
Popes who had to be overthrown. They sent no legate
to Hungary and the regions of the North, and they left
Spain and its various kingdoms on one side. If, as will
be seen later on, the Council of Constance succeeded in
restoring unity, it is because it took care to follow an
absolutely opposite plan. It overthrew the successor of

^ Cf. Simon de Cramaud's letter in Acta Concilii Constanc, i. p. 285.

2 Advice given at Tarascon_, January 10^ 1409, by the Bishop of Cambrai.
Mart^ne et DuRAND, Veter. Script., vii. col. 917 and 1464. Cf. N. de
Cl^mangis, d'Ailly's disciple, Opera, p. 71. Gerson, Fropos. coram Anglicis,
0pp. Oersonii, ii. col. 128. Tschackert, Peter von Ailli, p. 152.

261

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

the Pope elected at Pisa, but, in this important and
deHcate affair, it proceeded with a wise dehberation, and
surrounded itself from the start with all the conditions
likely to achieve success.

Why did the Council of Pisa declare that it was
oecumenical, why did it put forth the claim of speaking
for the universal Church, when it knew that several
nations were unrepresented ? It ought not to have
wondered at all if its decisions were not unanimously
approved. Again, why were the two claimants accused,
not only of schism, but of real heresy ? Such are the
charges that passion invents, but such as neither
theology nor justice can maintain.

Moreover, the same Peter d'Ailly was able to add later
on : " Although the celebration of the Council of Pisa
and the election of Alexander V. were held to be legi-
timate and canonical by the obedience of John XXIII.,
yet the two opposing obediences maintain the contrary,
not without probability, and the difficulties in law and in
fact are no less than they were previously." ^ And Gerson
thought so too : " The present Schism offers so many
doubtful points," he wrote, " that it would be rash,
hurtful, and scandalous to pronounce the upholders of
such and such a party outside the way of salvation." ^
So, then, even according to the supporters of the council,
the canonicity of its acts and the value of its decisions are
open to question. How, then, can it be reckoned
oecumenical, especially if one knows beforehand that the
legitimate Pope, whoever he might be, neither convened
it nor presided over it, and that the council did not at
all represent the universal Church ?

1 Cf. Bouix, De Papa, i. p. 497.

2 Bess, John Gerson u. d. Kirchenpolitik Parteien Frankreichs von der
Konzil zu Pisa (Marburg, 1890).

262

THE COUNCIL OF PISA

Further, theologians and canonists have been hard
upon the synod of Pisa.

On the one hand, to the extreme left of the doctors,
we hear a violent partisan of Benedict's, Boniface
Ferrier, call it a " conventicle of demons." ^ Theodore
Urie, one of Gregory's mainstays, seems to doubt
whether they gather at Pisa with the sentiments of
Dathan and Abiron, or those of Moses.^ St Antoninus,^
and Cajetan after him, as well as Turrecremata and
Raynald, openly call it a conventicle, or at any rate cast
doubts on its authority.

On the other hand, the Gallican school either approves
of it or pleads extenuating circumstances. Noel
Alexander, at the end of a long dissertation, asserts that
the council destroyed the Schism as far as it couldJ^
Bossuet says, in his turn : " If the Schism that devas-
tated the Church of God was not exterminated at Pisa, at
any rate it received a mortal blow there, and the Council
of Constance consummated it." ''

Protestants, who follow out all the consequences of
their principles, applaud this council unreservedly, for
they see in it " the first step to the deliverance of the
world," and greet it as the dawn of the Reformation.^
Perhaps it is wise to say with Bellarmine that this
assembly is a general council which is neither approved
nor disapproved.' On account of its illegalities and

1 Thesaurus anecdot, ii. col. 1461.

2 Von der Habdt, i. 147.

^ Summa historialis , ^. iii. tit. xxii. c. 5, par. 2. '' Per Pisanum con-
cilium vel conciliahulum non erat ablatum schisma, sed augmentatum."

4 T. viii. (Ed. in fol.), p. 360.

^ Defensio declarationis cleri gallicani, pars. ii. lib. v. c. 12.

^ GregoboviuSj Geschichte der Stadt Rom in Mittelalter, vi., 3rd Ed., p. 577-

^ Bellarmine, De Conciliis et Ecclesia, ii. c. 8, p. 13 (Ed. 1608, Paris).
Gf. Bliemetzbiedeb, Die general Konzil im grossen ahendlandischen Schisma,
Paderborn, Schoiiingh, 1904.

26S

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

inconsistencies it cannot be quoted as an oecumenical
council. And yet it would be unfair to brand it as a
conventicle, to compare it with the robber- council of
Ephesus, with the pseudo- council of Basle, or with the
Jansenist council of Pistoia. This synod is not a pre-
tentious, rebellious, and sacrilegious coterie. The
number of the fathers, their quality, authority, intel-
ligence, and their zealous and generous intentions, the
almost unanimous accord with which they came to their
decisions, the royal support they met with, remove every
suspicion of intrigue or cabal.^ Nevertheless it is not a
council that resembles any other, and it has a place by
itself in the history of the Church. Unlawful in the
manner in which it was convoked, unpractical in its
choice of means, not indisputable in its results, and
having no claim to represent the universal Church, such
was the character of the Council of Pisa. The original
source of all the historical events that took place from
1409 to 1414, it must be considered as the preliminary
of the Council of Constance.

^ The Popes of Pisa have their place in the monumental gallery of
medallions which adorns the frieze of St Paul's outside the Walls. Those
of P'ondi and Avignon are not among them.

264

CHAPTER XIV

THE COUNCIL OF ROME AND THE PRELIMINARIES OF
THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

§ 1. Alexander F. and John XXI II ,

Pope Alexander had been elected owing to the zeal of
Balthazar Cossa. He did not forget it, and either
through gratitude or timidity he remained dependent
upon him who was his legate and as it were his prime-
minister. His opinions and decisions never did aught
but reflect the counsels, if not the commands, of Cossa.

On November 1, 1409, the Pontiff issued a fresh bull
against the ambitious Ladislas of Naples, who had
possession of a large part of the States of the Church, and
upheld the cause of Gregory XII. Here he obtained
more success, for the usurper was soon forced to quit
Rome. Instead of immediately betaking himself to the
Eternal City which was expecting him, Alexander
yielded to the entreaties of Balthazar and settled at
Bologna in order to end his days there. They were not
of long duration. From the beginning of 1410, the Pope
renewed all the condemnations pronounced against
his two rivals. Struck with a mortal illness at the
beginning of May 1410, he gathered all the cardinals
about his death-bed, confirmed anew the decrees of
Pisa, urged them to concord, and then breathed his
last. He was seventy-one years of age, and had held

265

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

the pontifical throne for ten months and eight
days.^

His successor was plainly marked out : his confidant
and supporter, Cardinal Cossa. He was elected by
seventeen cardinals, after a conclave of three days, on
May 17, and took the name of John XXIII. He was
ordained priest immediately afterwards, then was con-
secrated bishop, and solemnly crowned on May 25.

Here we take in hand the history of a man whom
calumny has not spared and who may have often given
occasion for it. His enemies made him out to be a sort
of crowned monster, but one only has to run through the
long Hst of misdeeds for which he is blamed by them to
be struck with the evident exaggeration of the charges
brought against him.

Balthazar Cossa was a Neapolitan, born of a noble
family and gifted with a rare intelligence. That he had
been a pirate in his youth, and had long scoured the seas
of Sicily, is an allegation of the atrabilious and vindictive
Niem," but it appears very difficult to prove it. We
prefer to follow the opinion of Platina,^ Valori,* and the
monk of St Denis,^ who were all contemporaries, and who
show him to us as a student at Bologna, obtaining a
double degree as doctor of law.

Boniface IX. appointed him his chamberlain, and
Thierry de Niem accuses him of having dealt in the
traffic of indulgences.'^ Appointed Cardinal of St

^ CiAcoNius, Vitae et resgestae Pontif. rom. , ii. p. 77(3. Wadding, Ann.
Minonim, ix. p. 273. Pi^tina, De vitis Pontif. rom., 1645, p. 248.
Niem, I)e Seismate, iii. 53.

2 De mta etfactis Johannie XXIII. y Von der Hardt, Rerum concil. oecum.
Const., ii. 338.

^ Loc. cit.

* Archivio storico italiano, iv. 1843, p. 261.

^ Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xxxiii. c. 28.

^ VoN DER Hardt, ii. p. 340.

266

COUNCILS OF ROME AND CONSTANCE

Eustache and Legate of Bologna, it is certain that, in
this difficult position, he exhibited very remarkable
political skill. He was both administrator and general,
and soon succeeded in getting back all the land to the
obedience of the Church.

According to Thierry's own avowal,^ the legate very
heavily fined debauchees, usurers, and gamblers. Can it
be thought that he would have fallen himself into all
these vices, and that he united to the skill of Cardinal
Albornoz, the sometimes brutal behaviour of Cardinal
Robert of Geneva, and the shamelessness that has
occasionally been laid at the door of Cardinal Dubois,
though without sufficient proof ?

Let it, however, be frankly owned that John XXIII.
appears to have been inspired with ideas that were
rather political than religious. One looks to find the
Spirit of God in him and only discovers the spirit of the
world, combined with a love of money, and an un-
scrupulous ambition which sticks at nothing. St
Antoninus judged very well of him when he wrote :
" Vir in temporalibus magnus, in spiritualibus nullus.'^ ^

Was he the Pope who was wanted for the president of
the future council that was to set forward the great
reform ? Was his election at such a time a grace from
God or a providential punishment ? Certainly Balthazar
can always be accused of having coveted the supreme
pontificate, of having bought the conscience and the vote
of certain cardinals, and even of having accelerated the
death of his predecessor, without arousing too much
astonishment and protest on the part of those who knew
him.^ Here must one not repeat what our readers must
have thought more than once in going through the

^ VoN DEB Hardt, p. 350. ^ Summa historialis , p. iii. tit. 22, c. 6.

3 Cf. Hefelb, X. p. 428.

267

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

ecclesiastical annals of this sad period ? God must have
well guaranteed the immortahty of His Church when He
allowed His representative to be sometimes so unworthy
of her. In the like circumstances, any other purely
human institution must have disappeared amidst public
contempt. But, as St Leo remarks, " the Papal dignity
loses nothing even when he who inherits it is unworthy
of it." There are to be seen evils, scandals, but not
mortal wounds. One cannot but pity as well as condemn
those who are guiltily responsible for them ; and a
certain brotherly sympathy must be extended to those
who undertook to be the recorders of these troubled
times, and who, in order to be faithful to historical truth,
are obliged to relate what is not for edification. So many
glorious deeds are inscribed on the credit side of the
account of the Sovereign Pontiffs in the course of nineteen
centuries, that certain temporary lapses can be forgiven
them. Supposing we wished to hide some things, our
lies are no good to them. We have already quoted the
saying of De Maistre : " The Popes want nothing but
the truth."

Monstrelet relates that, at the ceremony of the corona-
tion, the cardinals, following time-honoured custom,
lighted a tow fire before the new Pope, and said to him
three times : " Holy father, thus passes the glory of the
world." 1

John XXIII. was soon to learn this by experience.
Until then his cleverness had never left to chance what
good counsel or foresight could provide, and he had been
happy in all his undertakings ; and his ambitions,
even when most daring, had been crowned with success.

From the time of his promotion to the pontifical
throne, Balthazar no longer appeared the same person.

^ Chroniques, livre i. ch. 68.

368

COUNCILS OF ROME AND CONSTANCE

He seemed to have lost some of the fine penetrating
insight, the energy of will, and rapidity of execution that
had marked out his youth. No one showed himself
weaker, more clumsy in policy, more unlucky in war, and
more destined to be the plaything of fortune, which was
to spare him no humiliation.

No sooner was he elected, than John tried, by an
embassy of Cardinal Landulph of Bari in Spain, to detach
the Kings of Aragon, Navarre, and Castile from the
obstinate Benedict. The legate did not succeed, despite
his efforts and his undoubted skill.^

On the other hand, the Pontiff tried to open negotia-
tions with Malatesta to get him to make Gregory decide
to resign ; but the prince either could not, or would not
work efficaciously in that direction and prepared to
declare war upon the new Pope.

At the same time the fleet of Louis of Anjou, the
supporter of John XXIII. , was beaten and routed by
that of Ladislas, Cossa's old enemy. Several towns of
the Romagna had to open their gates to the victor. It
was the first of a series of unexpected disappointments.

Happily, events that were more favourable to the
Pontiff were taking place in Germany. Robert of
Bavaria, King of the Romans, the constant protector
of Gregory XII., had just died. Sigismund, King of
Hungary, brother of the dethroned King Wenceslas,
presented himself as a candidate for the Empire, and
endeavoured to secure a triumph by relying upon John
XXIII. But this prince's cousin, Jodocus of Moravia,
also claimed the dignity of King of the Romans. On his
part the drunken Wenceslas did not cease to try to make
good his rights to the throne, of which he had been de-
clared unworthy. Thus there were three competitors for

1 FiNKE, Acta concilii Constanciensis , i. pp. 2, 20 ff. ^ Xbid., p. 4 if.

269

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

the imperial crown, as there were three claimants for the
tiara. But Jodocus died almost immediately ; Sigis-
mund was elected at Frankfort on July 21, 1411, and
was afterwards confirmed by Gregory XII. He hastened
to be reconciled with his brother Wenceslas. The new
sovereign, as fair as he was courageous, played hence-
forward a great part in the history of the time. To him
all looks were to turn : on the King of the Romans, the
born protector of the Papacy, everyone was to depend
for convoking the council which would put an end to so
many spiritual and temporal evils.

Among the first, the indefatigable Malatesta became
the champion of this idea, and directly addressed the new
emperor. In a detailed report, he made warm com-
plaints of John XXIII., adjured the German monarch
in fine to come to the rescue of the Church, and begged
him above everything not to assemble the future council
in a town where the Pontiff would have a twofold power,
both spiritual and temporal. He was not hstened to.
In the meantime the Prince of Rimini went on with the
war he had declared against John XXIII., and united his
efforts with those of Ladislas.

The King of Naples was conquered by his rival Louis of
Anjou at Roccasecca, on May 19, 1411 ; but the French
prince could not turn his victory to good account, and
returned to Provence as rapidly as if he had suffered a
defeat. It was the fate of the Dukes of Anjou never to
succeed in Italy, which has sometimes been called the
Frenchmen's grave. Louis II. was no more fortunate
than Charles of Anjou had been in 1282, Louis I. of Anjou
in 1383, or than Rene of Anjou was in 1438. Each of
them was enticed with the hope of carving out for
himself a powerful kingdom at Naples with the edge of
the sword, and all died in disappointment.

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COUNCILS OF ROME AND CONSTANCE

The triumph gained by Louis 11. had no morrow, and
its only result was to inflate the magnificent expectations
of John XXIII. one day, and then to let them fall as
quickly into ruin. On his side, Malatesta occupied
Emiha, and kept it in the obedience of Gregory XII.,
whilst Bologna drove out the new Pope's legate.

§ 2. The Council of Rome,

At the end of its sessions, the assembly of Pisa had
decided that a new council should take place in three
years, ix, in 1412.

John XXIII. convened it for April 1.^ In order to
make some partisans for himself, he nominated fourteen
cardinals, and his selection was generally approved.

They were Peter d'Ailly, Bishop of Cambrai; Gilles
des Champs, Bishop of Coutances; his friend William
Philastre, Dean of Reims, less skilful and less eloquent ;
Zabarella, Bishop of Florence, whose ideas about the
Church were open to question, but whose cleverness and
initiative were very noted ; Robert of Hallum, Bishop of
Salisbury, who was to bind England to the new Pope,
and several others who were less well known (June 6,
1411).

Two years later he also promoted Simon de Cramaud,
Archbishop of Reims, to this dignity.

Among the thus elected are to be noted the principal
doctors of the University of Paris. John made a point of
conciliating this powerful and illustrious corporation for
good and all ; but his intentions were soon doomed to
cruel disappointment.

He was less happily inspired when he decreed a crusade

^ The bull which convoked the council given in Raynald is faulty.
See the true text in Finke^, i. p. 127. It is dated April 29^ 1411.

271

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

against Ladislas. This self-interested appeal met with
no success. The Pontiff was soon forced to conclude a
disadvantageous peace with the King of Naples, and to
grant him a number of privileges, in some cases of a very
onerous character.

Circumstances were growing favourable to the holding
of a council at Rome. Only a few French prelates were
there under the guidance of the Bishop of Amiens, Peter
d'Ailly, and Simon de Cramaud. King Charles had
charged them with the defence of his interests and those
of the Church of France.^ From 1411, the University
had drawn up avisata concerning the reform of the
Church," and Peter d'Ailly for his part had written a
summary of the points upon which the attention of the
future council should be brought to bear.^ The two
programmes are so like each other that it may be sus-
pected that they came from the same source.

Many delegates arrived in turn from Italy, Bohemia,
Hungary, and England, but slowly and in small numbers.^

The Pope was obliged to prorogue the council several
times, and it hardly began with the year 1413. The
only important enactment was one condemning the
books of the heresiarch Wycliffe, and forbidding anyone
to comment on them in the pulpit before the people.^ It
was a disapprobation of the doctrines and practices which
John Huss was beginning to introduce into Bohemia.

The Cardinal of Cambrai, who arrived on December 1,
1412, could not get his remarkable project for reforming

1 Chronic. Karoli VI., lib. xxxii. c. 41.

2 FiNKE, i. p. 132.

3 The capita agendorum are in Von derHardt, i. col. 506. He ascribes
them to Cardinal Zabarella, but Lenz^ Steinhausen, and I^schackert
prove that they are d'Ailly's (1417)- Cf. Clj^mangis, Vota emandationis j in
Von der Hardt, i. p. ii. col. 4o. Valois, iv. p. 203.

* Cf. Mansi, xxvii. col. 505.
^ Finke, p. 163.

272

COUNCILS OF ROME AND CONSTANCE

the calendar discussed and accepted, and its final
acceptance was deferred until the end of the troubles of
the Church.^ The French ambassadors had scarcely
reason to be satisfied at the result of their mission. Like
all the fathers of the council, they soon perceived that
John did not wish seriously to take in hand the questions
of reform which were of such keen interest to the
University as well as to the whole Church. As soon as
the discussions reached these burning questions, the
skilful Zabarella immediately addressed the meeting and
put the proposals on one side.^

The French delegates, not wishing to be dupes,
demanded that the meeting should be prorogued and
transferred elsewhere. The Sovereign Pontiff consented
willingly, and put it off till the month of December
without mentioning any definite meeting-place. After-
wards he acknowledged, in his bull convening the
Council of Constance, that the Universal Church was
not adequately represented in this Roman assembly.^

The Pope, moreover, must have been far from ready
to convoke the bishops again, for before as well as after
the council he had heard from the Hps of the Cardinal
of Bari, and certain others, stern truths and severe
reproaches, which his conduct too often deserved.
Cardinal Orsini and the Cardinal of Cambrai were
witnesses of it. These remarks were unhappily of no
avail, as the future was to show.^

^ Cf. Von der Hardt, iii. col. 70. It is analysed and discussed in my
Petrus de AlUaco, p. 192. In this treatise d'Ailly just touches on the
errors of the Julian calendar. Unfortunately his plan was only adopted
in 1582 by Gregory XIII. Thus the Cardinal of Cambrai is one of the
authors of the Gregorian calendar.

- MuRATORi, Rerum italic. Script. , iii. p. ii. p. 846. Duschesne^ Liber,
pontif., ii. p. 536.

3 Raynald, a. 1412, No. 5 ; a. 1413, Nos. 1-4.

* FiNKE, i. pp. 125, 163. Hefele, x. p. 429. Bibl. Nat., Latin MS. 9513.

s 273

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

No sooner had the fathers left Rome than the King of
Naples declared war,^ and entered into the Eternal City
through a breach (June 8, 1413). He devastated it, and
perpetrated such horrors as had not been seen since the
time of the Vandals. The Pope was put to flight and
vigorously pursued.^ Florence refused to open its gates
to the fugitive, and help came from nowhere in spite of
his embassies and entreaties. Cardinal d'Ailly, sent as a
legate to Germany, could not get the permission of
Venice for the passage of the imperial troops through its
territory on their way to help the Pope.^ But, on the
other hand, the senate promised that it would not oppose
the meeting of a council at Bologna, where John XXIII.
had long wielded absolute authority.*

Fortunately he was soon delivered by a death, which
was both disgraceful and tragic, from the sacrilegious and
voluptuous Ladislas, who had just sacked Rome a
second time, and who had ridden on horseback into the
Church of St John Lateran. Ill as a consequence of his
debaucheries, and perhaps poisoned, he had himself
carried to Naples, where he succumbed (August 6, 1414).
This made one less obstacle to the peace of the Church.
It may be observed, by the way, that the taking of
Rome has always proved fatal to conquering adven-
turers, either through its fascinating seduction, or
else because of the inevitable disappointments that it
prepares for them. Genseric and Odoacer were in this
respect the precursors of Otho, Barbarossa, Ladislas, and
many others known to history.

1 FiNKE, p. 105.

2 NiEM, in VoN i)ER HARnT_, ii. p. ;380. Thierry, who was then re-
corder of Curia, was present at this rout (p. 381).

^ Letters lately discovered in the State Archives of Venice. Cf. Finke,
pp. 100 and 167-

* GuiRAUD, L'j&tat pontifical apres le grand Schisme, p. 23.

274

COUNCILS OF ROME AND CONSTANCE

§ 2. Preliminaries of the General Council,

On his part, Sigismund obstinately pursued the object
that several prelates, distinguished writers, and particu-
larly the public voice,^ had assigned to his efforts : the
convening of a General Council that should definitely
restore the peace of the Church.

Coming down into the North of Italy, he omitted
nothing that might secure the success of his plan. The
state of Christendom was much more in his thoughts than
the particular interests of John XXIII.

The latter, forced by circumstances to take up the
idea of a council again, wished to hold it in a town that
would be under his rule, or, at any rate, neutral, and
above all independent of the Empire. In this sense he
had definitely instructed his legates. Cardinals de
Chalant and Zabarella.

But at the last moment, seized with an unaccountable
fit of bewilderment and blundering, he said to them :
" I had meant to specify to you certain towns and to
prevent your choosing others. To-day I have changed
my mind, and I leave it to your discretion, giving you
full powers." ^

The two legates left for Como, where they found
Sigismund. He had already fixed his choice on the
imperial town of Constance, the advantages of which had
been pointed out to him by his friends. He easily
succeeded in getting the Pope's delegates to share his
views.

* Thierry db Niem, or Andrew Escobar, have mainly re-echoed it in a
book entitled Be modis uniendi, written in 1410. Von der Hardt, i.
p. V. p. 68. 0pp. Gersonii, ii. p. 161.

^ These letters have been recently printed by Palacky, Doaumenta
Mag. J. Hies, p. 512. Cf. Muratori^ Rer. italic. Script., xix. p. 928.

275

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Moreover, these prelates, like most of those about
John XXIII., had but a very moderate amount of
esteem for him. They were more attached to his
fortunes than to his person, and endured rather than
loved him. They sometimes corresponded with his
rivals, and were ready for any possible desertion. Peter
d'Ailly himself did not believe in John's good faith, for
he had tried to get himself carried off by the troops of
Ladislas in order not to be present at the council that
was being got ready.^

At bottom, the cardinals in general were anxious, no
matter how, to get rid of this compromised and com-
promising Pontiff.^ When John XXIII. learnt of the
choice made by Sigismund, and when he saw his own
plans so openly thwarted, he bitterly deplored his
bUndness. It was too late : the head of the Empire was
urging events on, and hastening negotiations with
Catholic kings, and was arranging secret understandings
with Gregory XII. -^

On October 30, 1413, he announced to Christendom
that, in consequence of an understanding with the Pope,
a General Council would commence at Constance on
November 1 of the following year. He would attend in
person, and he invited the three claimants and princes to
be present.

The King of France, sincerely attached to John XXIII.,
gave a very cool reply to Sigismund. In a vague way
he doubtless understood that the King of the Romans
was taking up a role which he himself had formerly
fulfilled. Charles VI. at first limited himself to a state-
ment that he would hinder no one from going to Con-

1 FiNKE, pp. 182 and -344.
2/6irf.,p. 345.

^ Ibid., p. 239 ff. Lkonard Abetinus, in Murator , xix. i. 028.
Mandonnet, Hist. Jahrhuch, 1900, p. 388.

278

COUNCILS OF ROME AND CONSTANCE

stance : but later on he changed his mind, and yielded
so far as to send a representative.

The new King of Aragon, Ferdinand, on the contrary,
gave an energetic reply, and warmly disputed the
superiority that the King of the Romans took upon
himself.

The Pope would have vainly offered some resistance,
but he finally resigned himself to issuing from Lodi a bull
convoking the council (December 9, 1413).

This resolution was made with little spontaneity and
not without regret. When the republic was proclaimed
at Rome, after the shameful death of Ladislas, the
Pontiff wanted to return to his capital in order to restore
his authority there, as he said. Perhaps he was hoping
in this way to escape the council which he feared, and the
cession that he anticipated.

The cardinals opposed the journey : they succeeded
in making him believe that the meeting at Constance
would not last long, that it would confirm him in his
rights, and that he could afterwards enter the Eternal
City with greater authority than ever.^

Always distrustful, because he knew that he was
legitimately regarded with suspicion, John exacted
numerous and substantial guarantees for the protection
of his person from the citizens of Constance. Since the
citizens of the town put a certain amount of difficulties in
his way, the Pope sent John de Brogny, Cardinal of Ostia,
to smooth them down and to prepare a solemn entry for
him.

At last, on October 1, 1414, John left Bologna for
Constance. He passed through the Tyrol, and there met
Frederick V., Duke of Austria. He immediately bound

1 Gregobovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter, vi. p. 596 ff.
S. Antoninus, Summa Mstorialis, p. iii. tit. xxii. c. 6. Finke^ i. p. 237 ff.

277

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

himself to him with the bonds of an interested friendship :
and he did not conceal his fears from him, and they con-
cluded a sort of defensive aUiance together. The Pope
felt that he was not above reproach, nor was he without
fear, and he thought that he could afford to neglect no
precaution that would ensure his liberty in the council.
These apprehensions, it is said, were shared by those
around him. His jester, making an allusion to a certain
game of chance and the town of Trent, near which he
happened to be, said to him one day, " Holy
Father, he who goes higher than Trent (thirty),
loses." 1

We have seen at Constance the ancient manuscript of
Canon Ulrich of Richenthal about the council that was
going to begin. This volume is decorated with naive
and rather coarse designs. In one of them the old
chronicler represents John XXIII. falHng out of his
carriage in the Tyrolese mountains and exclaiming :
Jaceo hie in nomine diabolL^ Another page shows him
arriving on the banks of Lake Constance, discovering the
town and saying : " Here is the fox-trap ! " ^

His former boldness had given way to a strange
fatalism that paralysed every thought and all power of
resistance in him. One day Bartholomew Valori told
him to be on his guard against the dangers he might run
in attending a synod held in a strange town. " I know
that the Council of Constance will not be in my favour,"

1 Lenpant, Histoire du Concile de Constance, i. lib. i. p. 19,

2 A similar engraving is in the curious book that bears the name of
Heinrich Stegner, and which was printed at Augsburg in 1.53(>. The
original copy of Ulrich is in the Rosgarten Museum at Constance, as well
as a copy of Stegner. As to Richenthal, (f. Marmob, Das Konzil zu
Konstanz (Constance, 181)8),

^ Cf. RioHKNTHAii, p, 24. Trithkmius, Chronicum Hirsangiense, ii,
p. 33fi.

278

COUNCILS OF ROME AND CONSTANCE

answered the Pope, " but what can I do about it if my
fate carries me thither ? " ^

While all these events were taking place in upper
Italy and lower Germany, the legitimate Pope Gregory
carries almost everywhere his wandering authority with
him, and is the sport of political and religious strife.
Never, perhaps, was good right more misunderstood,
spiritual power more questioned, the temporal power
more despised.

Pursued by numerous enemies, the Pontiff passed from
Gaeta into Dalmatia, from Dalmatia to Cesena, and from
Cesena to Rimini, where reigned the faithful Malatesta.
He had just refused a pension of 50,000 florins offered him
by John XXIII. if he would give up. He declined the
invitations to the future council given him by the King
of the Romans, but agreed to send a representative.
Surrounded with a few trusty and prudent cardinals,
like Condulmaro ^ and Dominici,^ and convinced that the
council would only become oecumenical if he took part
in it, he resigned himself to waiting upon events, and to
coming forward at the most favourable moment for the
peace of the Church.

1 Vita di B. Valori, in I' Arch. stor. ital., iv. part i. p. 262. Of.
Pastor J Histoire des Papes, i. p. 205.

2 The cardinal was a Venetian by birth, and commendatory abbot of
St George Major. In 1431 he became Pope Eugenius YV.

^ John Dominici was born of humble parents at Florence. He became
a Dominican quite young. He was nominated by Gregory to the arch-
bishopric of Ragusa, and soon afterwards cardinal (May 9, 1408). As
eloquent as he was pious, and as learned as he was zealous^ he played a
large part in the events that followed, and carried on negotiations with
Sigismund for two years on behalf of Gregory. See his Life by Rosleb
(Freiburg, 1893).

279

CHAPTER XV

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE — FIRST SESSIONS

§ 1. Opening of the Council.

In history the city of Constance had already had a
glorious past. Its annals recorded its foundation by
Constantine, and that the Emperor had given it his name,
as he had done to Constantinople. He had fixed its site
at the meeting-point of three lakes connected with one
another, the largest of which is a regular sea, washing
Suabia on the north, and reflecting in its southern waters
the heights of the Appenzell and the Vorarlberg.

In the earliest Christian ages Constance had sent
missionaries to Gaul. In the course of the seventh
century, which was called the' golden age of sanctity, the
North had taken from it St Omer, St Momelin, St
Ebertraume, and St Bertin.

Later on, it had seen founded, almost under its walls,
the Abbey of Reichenau, which, in its literary and
apostolic influence, soon rivalled Bobbio, St Gall, and
Luxeuil, the fertile foundations of St Columba and his
disciples.

Charles the Fat, conquered and plundered, found a
grave in these cloisters, where legions of monks lived,
studied, and prayed. The churches of the Isle of
Reichenau, their old paintings, and their relics, are the
only genuine memories of the illustrious past, now almost
perished.

280

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

Still later in the tenth century, the bishops Conrad and
Gebhardt II., whose monumental statues adorn the
bridge over the Rhine, had been celebrated for their
sanctity and for their services.^ In the eleventh,
Henry III. had held a great council (1043) at Constance,
and had induced the clergy and the people to restore
peace. In another synod, in 1094, Bishop Gebhardt III.
had encouraged the reforms of Gregory VII. and had
abolished a host of abuses. It was this twofold paci-
ficatory and reforming object that was to occupy the
great council of which we are about to speak. ^ In 1183,
Frederick had here granted the famous yax Constantiae.^
In the Middle Ages, the diocese of Constance, owing to
its great abbeys, had enjoyed a certain liturgical and
more specially an intellectual leadership over the ecclesi-
astical province of Mayence and over all the dioceses
of the Empire.*

It is in the libraries of the surrounding monasteries of
Reichenau, Weingarten, or even of St Gall, that Poggio
and other humanists conducted their researches so
ardently and successfully between the sessions of the
council. It is there that they discovered and copied
the manuscripts of the masterpieces of Cicero, Quintilian,
or Statins, lovingly preserved by the monks ;'" it is
there that they prepared the literary movement of the
renaissance.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century the imperial
town of Constance was in full possession of every

^ Pertz, Monumenta, Scriptores, iv. and x.

'^ Hepfxe, vi. p. 285 and vii. p. 26.

3 Pertz, Monumenta, Leges, ii. p. 175.

* Cf. E. MissET, Le premier livre imprirn^ connu, in the Bibliographe
modeme, September 1899.

^ Cf. VoiGT, Petrarque, Bocace, et les debuts de Vhumariisme (French trans-
lation by Le Monnier, 1894), p. 237-

281

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

municipal franchise, and made free use of them behind
its seven gates and thirteen towers. When the city
agreed to receive the council, it was not without taking
most elaborate precautions for the maintenance of its
rights and ancient liberties.

After having been a centre of missionary and scientific
work, Constance was about to become the headquarters
of Catholic unity, and for a time the heart of Chris-
tendom. In anticipation the Christian world hailed it
in the words of Peter d'Ailly : " O happy town of
Constance," he cried, " I share thy joy, for it is among
the German towns that have been laid under my charge
as legate that thou hast been selected ! " ^

From another point of view, Thierry de Niem boasted
the wealth of its vines and fields, ager cui henedixit
Dominus, the beauty of its lakes and of its river, the
purity of its air, and the justice of its laws for the
protection of strangers.^

In 1414, Constance was to write the fairest page in its
history, for the council was the most brilliant that had
been ever held in Germany. Like Pisa, which had been
also the seat of a similar assembly, since then it has only
decreased in importance and renown. To-day, almost
all the curiosities that Constance has to show the traveller
date from the council and from the events that distin-
guished it.

It was a magnificent sight when Pope John XXIII.,
on October 28, 1414, made his solemn entry into the
city by the fine Kreutzlingen gate, which may be seen
still to-day.

^ Sermo de adventu Domini. Of. Tractatus et Serm. (Strasburg, 1490).
0pp. Gersonii, ii. col. 918.

2 VoN DEB Hardt, ii. col. 398. On the part of Niem at the Council of
Constance, c/*. H. Finke, Forschungen und Quellen zur Geschichte des
Koiutanzer Konzils, p. If32.

282

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

Nine cardinals accompanied him, and a great number
of prelates and nobles. The Count de Montfort and a
Prince Orsini of Rome led his ambling nag by the bridle,
while Henry of Ulm, Burgomaster of Constance, and
three other notables bore the baldachin which was over
his head. The Pope was received alike as an angel of the
Lord ^ and also as a conqueror in this old cathedral that
was to witness such important events. Then he went
to take possession of his apartments in the palace of the
bishop, Otho of Hochberg.

Every day the town saw the arrival of eminent
prelates, of princes with numerous trains of cavaliers,
and of delegates of the Universities.

Cardinal Zabarella proclaimed that the first session of
the council would begin on November 16.^ The delay
was used to hold preliminary meetings, to make arrange-
ments for good order, and all sorts of preparations.

The auditors of the Roman Rota took their places in
the Church of St Stephen's, which still exists, in order
to administer justice three times a week. Thus it was
that the maximum tariff for the board and lodging of
strangers, their servants and horses, was settled by
common agreement.^

Further, full liberty of speech was claimed for members
of the council, and promoters, procurators, and coun-
cillors were appointed to control the proceedings. On
November 17, Cardinal Peter d'Ailly arrived, who was
to be the soul of the great assembly, and he was received
with the greatest respect. He had a retinue of forty-four
persons. It was rather smaller than that of Angelo,

1 Chronic Karoli VI., lib. xxxv. c. 35.

2 On this prince of the Church, see Kneer, Kardinal Zabarella
(Munster, 1901).

2 Of. RossMANN, De eMerno Ooncilii Constant, apparatu (.[ena, 1856).

283

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Cardinal of Praeneste, who had forty- eight, and of Peter
de Foix, Cardinal-priest titular of St Stephen's of the
Caehus, who had fifty-two, according to Richenthal.^
Louis Fieschi, Cardinal of St Adrian's, was accompanied
by sixty-two servants, while John de Brogny, Cardinal
of Ostia, had eighty-eight. But nothing came up to the
splendour of the Archbishop of Mayence, John of Nassau,
who arrived with an escort five hundred strong,^ except-
ing perhaps the luxury of Louis, Count Palatine of the
Rhine, elected protector of the council, who entered the
town at the head of more than five hundred horsemen.

Soon five patriarchs, twenty-nine cardinals, thirty-
three archbishops, more than five hundred bishops, a
hundred abbots, three hundred doctors, and about
eighteen thousand ecclesiastics filled the town. A
hundred thousand men and thirty thousand horses had
to be fed daily, according to the chroniclers of those
times.^ All this crowd of persons, mostly made up of
knights, soon gave themselves up to tourneys, and to
other amusements even less worthy of the majesty of the
council and of the gravity of the subjects that it had
to deal with.

Until then, however, they had not been joined by
the most important personage of all, the King of the
Romans.

He had just had himself crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle
(November 8), and this grand ceremony had kept about
him the greater part of the German nobihty.

At the repeated entreaties of the Pope, he was on his
way towards the seat of the council. On Christmas Eve,

1 Ulrich von Richenthal, Kronik des Gomtanzer Concils, 1414-1418.
He often makes mistakes, both about the names and titles of the prelates.

2 JuNGMANN, Dissert, .selectae in hut. eccles., vi. p. 295.

^ Theod. Urie in Von der Hardt, i. col. 155. Lenfant, Histoire du
Concile de Constance, ii. p. 365-386. Hefele, x. pp. 392.

284

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

the 24th December, his arrival on the lake of tJberUngen,
connected with that of Constance, was notified.

The same evening, an immense crowd pressed towards
the gates of the town, to be present at the reception of
the head of the Empire. The cold was severe and the
night was far advanced when the vessel carrying the
King and his suite at length came to under the walls
of the town, amidst popular applause. Queen Barbara
of Celje accompanied him, as well as several princes and
princesses, and a large number of knights. Perhaps the
shores of the lake had never seen a royal entry of such
an extraordinary and solemn character.

After a short rest, Sigismund went to the Cathedral,
which was brilliantly illuminated. The Pope was
waiting for him in order to celebrate the Christmas
High Mass. The King put on a deacon's dalmatic,
placed the crown upon his head, mounted the ambo, and
solemnly chanted the Gospel of the Nativity.^

Then he took his seat on a magnificent throne,
surrounded with all the princes of the Empire, bearing
the insignia of his sovereignty. His Holiness then gave
him a sword that had been blessed, and charged him to
wield it always for the protection of the Church. The
prince took an oath to do so, and as a matter of fact, he
set himself to keep it during the events that subsequently
took place.

§ 2. Departure of John XXIIL

The representatives of the two authorities had met :
and the bishop without protected the bishops within
with his sword : serious discussion was about to begin.

1 Marmor, Das Concilium zu Konstanz (1898), p. 42. Theod. Urie in
VoN der Hardt, i. col. 15.

285

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Some already wanted to declare that the present
council ought to be satisfied with confirming that of Pisa,
suspended in 1409 by Alexander V.^ His successor, John
XXni., and the Italians in general attached much
importance to this formality, for thereby the canonical
lawfulness of the latter would be decreed, and at the
same time the indisputable validity of the pontifical
election with which it had closed. Thenceforward, the
measures finally taken against the claimants would have
had nothing to do with John XXIII., but only with his
rivals Gregory and Benedict.

The fathers refused to share these interested views.

Peter d'Ailly, supported by Cardinal Philastre, laid
down a counter-proposal on December 7. " The Council
of Constance," he said, '' is only the logical continuation
of the Council of Pisa. In the same way as the Rhine is
always the same river as it was a hundred years ago,
although between its banks not a single drop of the same
water remains. It is therefore useless to ask this
assembly to confirm the one that went before it. This
step might be dangerous in vexing those who deny the
legitimacy of the Council of 1409. According to the
decisions of Pisa, in virtue of their oath, the Pope and
the cardinals are obliged to work for the unity of the
Church, and for reform in capite et in membris,'' -

In a second document, presented to the council on
December 14, the Cardinal of Cambrai added : " With
regard to the claimants, first every possible means of
persuasion must be tried to secure voluntary cession,
Gregory and Benedict, if they consent to annul their
functions, must be offered important compensation and

^ Von der Hardt, iv. p. 23. Mansi, xxvii. p. 58].
2 VoN DER Hardt, ii. col. 192, 201. Mansi, xxvii. col. 542. Cf. H.
FiNKE, Forschungen und (^ellen, pp. 120 and 249.

286

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

a suitable position. If they resist, no new election will
be made on their death." ^

In this document, as in several others reproduced by
Von der Hardt, Peter d'Ailly desires to exhaust all the
means of conciliation before coming to methods of
severity. He does not even shrink from repeating his
doubts as to the validity and efficacity of the Council of
Pisa. He is right, but unfortunately he makes the
mistake of here reiterating his view of the fallibility of
general councils. " They have sometimes been mis-
taken," he says, " in fact and in law, and even in the
faith. The Universal Church alone has the privilege of
infallibihty." ^

In this false and grave assertion, we have the prelude
of the heterodox decisions taken at the first sessions of
the council.

Two other serious discussions took place in January
1415.

In the School, the importance of the theological
decisions uttered by the Sorbonne had already been
exaggerated, and the doctors had had an authority
ascribed to them which the Church until then had never
recognised and will never grant them.

D'Ailly, Gerson,^ and the first GaUicans often exalted
this sort of magisterial omnipotence, both immoderately
and unreasonably. No doubt, doctors may be con-
sulted by the highest ecclesiastical authorities. Their
advice, when asked for, often has great weight, but it is
merely a theological consultation. It is worth just what
the proofs it contains are worth. The doctor, in this
case, is like the lawyer, who, in the interpretation of the

1 VoN DER Hardt, col. 196. Finke, p. 125.

2 VoN DER Hardt, Ihid., col. 201. Cf. chapter vi. p. Ill ff.

3 0pp. Gersonii, i. col. 10. Cf. Puyol, Edmond Richer, i. p. 211. See
also farther back in this book, p. 206.

287

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

law, puts forth an opinion which is always open
to dispute by a jurist, and never the irrevocable
decision of a supreme judge, for he has no legal
jurisdiction.

This was not understood by a large number of the
members of the council. Also, when this question was
raised at the council, many members of the University
of Paris, Ir ought up amidst the cries of the School, showed
their eagerness in favour of this democratic and multi-
tudinist tendency, which Marsilius of Padua, John of
Jandun, and Occam had already proclaimed a hundred
years before, which Gerson and Courtecuisse maintained
about the time we are speaking of, and which Richer and
Vigor were to bring out again in the seventeenth century.

D'Ailly, true to false principles, threw himself headlong
into this movement. He asked that at Constance the
bishops and abbots wielding jurisdiction should not be
the only persons to have a definite vote, but that doctors
in theology, canon law and civil law (there were more
than three hundred) should also be granted to exercise
the suffrage.^

" They," said the Cardinal of Cambrai, " have a
greater doctrinal authority than an ignorant bishop, or
an abbot who is only titular and without any effective
jurisdiction. It cannot be admitted that these inferior
prelates should have as much influence as the Archbishop
of Mayence, for example, or any other bishop with an
immense diocese. ... I ask the same favour for
kings and princes, and also for their ambassadors and
the proxies of absent bishops and of chapters. Since the
most important thing is to get rid of the Schism, it

^ He had already expressed exag-gerated opinions on the point in his
speech before the Avignon Pope against John de Montson, Jacobita per-
fidissimus, as he calls him (J 387), 0pp. Gersonii, i. col. 710. D^Argentbj^,
Coll. Judic.j i. p. ii. p. 76.

288

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

would be neither reasonable nor right to try to exclude
kings and princes and their delegates.^

This dangerous doctrine, as unfounded in canon law
as in tradition, had already been put into practice at the
Councils of Pisa and Rome. It was approved of afresh
at Constance. At bottom, it was merely an expedient
for neutralising the influence of the prelates of the
second rank, Italians for the most part, who had flocked
to the council in large numbers to sustain the cause of
John XXIII. Later on, the Council of Basle renewed
the experiment ; and it was the source of its impotence
and the cause of its rebelliousness.

Another expedient, quite as dangerous and as
contrary to ecclesiastical tradition, was likewise used
against the Pope whom they wished to overthrow.

It was voting by nations and not by heads. This
measure was intended to bring to nought the numerical
superiority of the Italians. It was resolved, as at Pisa,
that the assembly should be|divided into four nations :
Italy, France, Germany and England. Later on, a fifth
was added, Spain.

Each nation was to nominate a certain number of
delegates, either ecclesiastics or laymen. Over the
deputies of each nation there was a president who was
changed every month. Moreover, each nation was to
meet separately to examine questions and to report its
decisions to the others.

When an understanding on a given point had been
reached, a general gathering of the four nations was to be
convened nationaliter. When this gathering had agreed
on one point, they were to submit it to the general

1 VoN DER Habdt, ii. col. 224. Mansi, xxvii. p. 560. Hardouin,
viii. p. 223. Cf. Petrus de Alliaco, p. 274. Next year d'Ailly set forth
the same principles in his treatise De potestate eccL, Von der Hardt,
iv. p. 18. 0pp. Gersonii, ii. col. 941.

T 289

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

council conciliariter} The Sacred College was unable
to get any recognition from the nations, as a definite body
having an autonomy and authority of its own. Each
cardinal had to vote with his nation.

All these decisions, adroit as they may have been in a
pohtical sense, deprived John XXHI. of any advantage
he might have obtained from numbers, but they had the
disadvantage of being derogatory to the most respected
traditions. They introduced national and particularist
divisions into the council, such as should find no place in
a cathoHc assembly, which is universal in character.
Like the former one, this procedure was revolutionary
with regard to supreme authority : it injiu"ed the rights
of cardinals and bishops, and was merely a contrivance
intended to strike at the Sovereign Pontiff.

This blow, which was already very evident, was not
the only one then aimed at John XXHI. An anonymous
person, probably an Itahan, brought out a pamphlet
against the Pope, full of the most odious charges." This
defamatory publication was put into the hands of the
foiu nations at the same time as a request for legal
inquiry. Thus the enemies of the Pope wished to
dishonour him, as they had tried to do in the case of
Boniface VIII. a century earlier (1S03). Informed by

^ VoN DEB HardTj t. i. col. 157. Cardinalium, nationumque consult.,
Ibid., t. ii. col. 230, and t. v. p. 53. Peter D'Ailly, 0pp. Gersonii, u.
col. 940. The Cardinal of Cambrai, learning from experience, later on
criticised this system, the manifold disadvantages of which he had quickly
perceived. He preferred voting by ecclesiastical provinces. See his
dissertation read at Constance on November 1st, 141G, De Keformatione
Ecdeaiae. The text found in the works of Gerson, ii. col. 915, is not the
same as that of 1403, the date of the first edition. The original text, in
the Bibl. Nationale (Latin MSS. 3124, 14579) and copied by Baluze (No.
1571) has a lacuna of thirty-eight lines. D'Ailly added these desiderata
on presenting his treatise to the council.

2 VoN DER Hardt, ii. col. 391. Hunger, Zur Gesch. Papstes Johanns,
jtxiii. (Bonn, 1876).

290

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

one of his servants, John was first of all thrown into
consternation. He consulted some cardinals who had
remained true to him.

The latter advised him not to enter into discussion
with his adversaries, but they were of opinion
that he had better abdicate to avoid a still greater
scandal.

The Pope accepted their counsels : and thus out of
evil came a certain amount of good. The calumnies or
slanders which were heaped upon the Pontiff led to the
cession so earnestly desired, and prepared the way for a
definite solution of difficulties.

On February 16, John XXIII., more and more
alarmed, got Cardinal Zabarella to read a document
wherein he said : " Determined to restore the peace of
the Chiu-ch, I agree to resign my powers, provided that
Peter de Luna and Angelo Corrario, who have been
pronounced to be heretics, also renounce all their claims
to the tiara." ^

The form of this document was reviewed by the
fathers, and found too violent for the rival Popes : but
already the council put the three Pontiffs on the same
footing : the work of Pisa was thus a failure in their
view. A second document was considered no more
satisfactory. Sigismund proposed a third, which met
with no better fate. Finally, after many negotiations,
John read in public an express and formal renunciation,
which contained only one condition, that Benedict and
Gregory should abdicate in turn. On March 2, 1415, in
the second solemn session, he repeated this important
declaration.^

This act was received with delight by the council.

1 Von deb Hardt^ ii. col. 223 and 292. Mansi, xxvii. p. 564.

2 Hefele, X. p. 387.

291

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

The Te Deum was sung and all Constance rejoiced. On
IMarch 7, the Pope issued a bull confirming and solemnly
promulgating his promised cession?

What is the use of relating events that now followed
with rapidity ? The innumerable vexations suffered by
John XXIII. , the plans of Sigismund who wanted to go
to Nice to confer with Benedict, the refusal of the Pope
to accept the King of the Romans as a proxy entrusted
with abdicating on his behalf, the burning and virulent
discussions between different nations, and the threats
addressed to the French people ?

Troubles were increasing, relations between John and
Sigismund were becoming more and more strained : a
report ran, that the Pope desired to leave Constance with
the help and protection of Frederick, Duke of Austria.
The Pontiff hoped that his withdrawal would break up
the council and put an end to the persecution of which
he complained.

On March 20, a great tourney took place at Constance.
The head of the Empire was present with his princes,
knights, and a great concourse of people. For the
moment, there was a truce to the grave debates of the
council. The Duke of Austria and the Count of Celje,
the brother-in-law of the King of the Romans, were to
meet in a contest of strength and skill. While the
magnificent spectacle engrossed all minds and eyes, an
old man in a worn-out grey dress and mounted on an old
horse, and with a cross-bow on the saddle, appeared at
the gate of Kreutzlingen with his face concealed. In this
disguise, who could recognise one who had passed
through the same gate four months previously in all the

1 Hefele, X. p. 390. Christophe, Histoire de la Papaute pendant le
XIV^ siecle, iii. p. 385. H. Finke, Forschungen und (^lellen, p. 265.
ValoiSj iv. p. 281.

292

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

pomp of the sovereign pontificate ? John XXIII. was
only accompanied by a child. No one took any notice
of travellers of such a pitiful appearance.

The Pope gained Ermatingen in Thurgau, embarked
on a boat which had been got ready by Frederick, and
reached Schaffhausen next morning.

Scarcely had he left Constance when he sent a trusty
messenger to inform the Duke of Austria, who neverthe-
less took part in the tournament. But the same
evening the Duke took horse and flung himself on the
road to Schafihausen, where he rejoined the papal
fugitive.

Next morning, the news of the Pope's flight spread in
Constance and at first created astonishment, and then
consternation and confusion.

Most of the fathers thought the council was over, and
got ready to leave : others, and even some cardinals,
thought of setting out to rejoin him whom they still
looked upon as their legitimate head.

On the other hand, invectives broke out against John
XXIII., whose palace was at once abandoned to the
pillage of the populace. Disorder kept increasing, and
fear with it, when Sigismund mounted on horseback,
and went through the streets of the city. His presence
raised their drooping courage, restored peace, and
prevented hasty departures.

The King immediately convened an assembly of the
four nations and declared his fixed determination of
defending and upholding the council, even at the risk of
his life. The cardinals gathered about him, but told
him, that before taking steps against the Pope, an
embassy should be deputed to go to him. Three
members of the Sacred College were invited to leave for
Schaffhausen with the Archbishop of Rheims, while

293

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Sigismund accused Frederick of treason, and summoned
him to appear before the council and himself.

In the assembly, the French delegates were remark-
able for the violence of their writings ^ and words,
as well as for the schismatical errors of their teaching
about the Church.

Gerson and others put forward theories subversive of
papal authority, and exalted the omnipotence of a
general council beyond all measure.^ All these auda-
cious opinons were about to force a certain number of
fathers to most lamentable deviations in doctrine and
conduct. Already they clearly upset certain heads, and
led on to utterances exaggerated to the point of injustice
and so mistaken as to be heretical.

Ecclesiastics of the second order, who had been
wrongly called to take part in the assembly, showed
themselves more carried away and more intractable than
the rest. They seemed ready to accept the most far-
fetched conclusions.

This state of mind explains without excusing all that
remains to be told, and all that took place at subsequent
sessions of the council.

§ 3. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sessions,

The next meeting had been fixed for March 26th, for
the assembly made a point of showing as quickly as
possible that it did not look upon itself as dissolved
through the Pope's departure. On the other hand, John
sent to all the Sacred College a command to come and

^ Cf. the violent placard attributed to Benedict Gentian, representing
the University of Paris. Mart^ne et Durand, Thesaurus, ii. col. 1620.

^ Von der Hardt, ii. col. 26-'). J. B. Schwab, Johannes Gerson, p. 507.
MARTisNE et DuRAND, col. 1623. Valois, iv. p. 2J)0.

294

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

join him at Schaffhausen within six days under pain of
excommunication. Thus, his intention of making the
council impossible was evident. At the same time he
complained to the King of France and his uncles, as well
as to the University of Paris, of the bad treatment
which he had experienced at the hands of the council, of
the distrust that had been shown towards him, and of the
plots that had been made by Sigismund against the
liberty of the fathers and of himself. The new procedure
followed at Constance and the so-called wrongs inflicted
on the French people also evoked his interested
remonstrances.^

Two days later, on March 25, John XXIII. sent the
Archbishop of Rheims to the town and bade him make a
verbal declaration to the assembly. " It is not fear, but
the unhealthiness of the air," he said, " that obliged me
to leave Constance. I am even ready to help Sigismund
and to pacify the Church." In a letter addressed to the
cardinals, he appointed them all as his representatives in
the work of cession, and ordered three of them to make
his abdication publicly known, as soon as Benedict and
Gregory had given in their resignation.^ In fine, the
Pontiff capitulated !

Without awaiting the return of the members of the
Sacred College who had been sent to Schaffhausen, it was
decided to hold the third session immediately, and, in
fact, it took place on March 26. The business was to
promulgate conciliariter what the four nations had
decided upon nationaliter. Most of the cardinals, uneasy

^ VoN DEB Hardt, ii. col. 253 (not 153^ a printer's error in the book),
Mansi, xxviii. p. 14. In the Vatican Library, Nos. 4173-4179 refer to
the Council of Constance. The reports of the Cong-regations were not
drawn up at Constance at all : hence much uncertainty in the actual
text.

^ VoN DEB Hardt, iv. col. 68. Mansi, xxvii. p. 576.

295

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

as to the provisions enacted by the council, and vexed by
its proceedings, refrained from putting in an appearance
at the meeting. There were only seventy prelates
present, but, on the other hand, there was an abundance
of ecclesiastics of the second order. Cardinal d'Ailly
took the chair after having solemnly sung Mass.
Cardinal Zabarella read the following resolutions, which
had already been approved by the nations : that the
council had been legitimately convened, opened, and
held at Constance ; that the withdrawal of the Pope had
not dissolved it ; that it could not be dissolved before the
Schism was exterminated and the Church reformed ;
that the assembly could not be transferred elsewhere,
and that all its members ought to remain at Constance
till the work was over.

These fine points were adopted conciliariter by the
cardinals and all the members who were present.
Nevertheless d'Ailly and Zabarella thought it their duty
to make a public protestation of their fideUty to the
authority of John XXIII., as long as he persisted in his
intention of resigning his prerogatives. If they con-
sented to attend this session, it was because they hoped
to see the Pope ratify their decisions later on.^ One
cannot but feel that the two cardinals were themselves
growing alarmed at the violent and revolutionary turn
things were taking.

Meanwhile, the three members of the Sacred College
sent to S chaff hausen returned to Constance. On
March 28, Maundy Thursday, the Cardinal of Pisa,
Alemanno Adimari, made a report of his mission. The
Pope upheld his original declarations, but persisted in
wishing to reside outside the town for some weeks,

^ VoN DER Hardt, iv. p. 70-74. Mansi, xxvii. p. 579. Hardouin, vii.
p. 246.

296

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

keeping an adequate court about him. Moreover, he
asked that his protector, Frederick, should not be
prosecuted, at any rate within a certain time.

These propositions were unfavourably received and
gave rise to violent discussions. The King of the
Romans and his partisans would admit none of the Pope's
reservations. In his requests they saw mere subterfuges
for preventing the progress of the council, for suspending
its deliberations, and for bringing about its dissolution.
All resolved to hold a new session without delay, and it
was fixed for March SO, Holy Saturday.^

But in the interim, on Good Friday, the nations of
France, Germany, and England, gathered at the Fran-
ciscan convent, drew up nationaliter four articles, which
have become as historically famous as the notable de-
claration of 1682.

1st. The Council of Constance, lawfully meeting in
the Holy Spirit, making an oecumenical council and
representing the Church militant, holds its authority
directly from God. All the faithful, the Pope included,
are bound to obey it in the matter of things of
faith, and of the extinction of the Schism, as well
as of the reform of the Church alike in her head and
members.

2nd. Whoever, even if he were the Pope himself,
obstinately refuses to conform to the decrees, statutes,
and ordinances of the holy council, or any other general
council canonically convened, on the points already
mentioned, or others like them, will receive the penalty
he deserves, and other lawful means shall be employed
if necessary.

3rd. The flight of the Pope is a reprehensible action
and scandalous : it throws him open to theTsuspicion

^ Several dates in Habdouin and Mansi, loc cit., are faulty.

297

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

of desiring to favour the Schism, and even of having
fallen into heresy.

4th. John XXIII., and all other persons invited to the
council, have always enjoyed and still enjoy the fullest
liberty.^

Every reader can see how these propositions, adopted
by three nations out of four, are far from being satis-
factory from a theological point of view. The two first
contain the whole of the essence of Gallicanism : they
are full of its schismatical venom.

It is to be noted that the cardinals and the very
numerous Italian nation took no part in drawing up
these articles. On the contrary, they showed that they
were very discontented with them. They went to
Sigismund, reminded him of the Pope's promises with
regard to cession^ and begged him not to allow these four
articles to be published next day in the general sitting
conciliariter. Indeed, they drew his attention to the fact
that several of the decrees proposed by the three nations
were inadmissible. They tried to modify them and to
replace them by others. The King of the Romans fully
understood that a rupture between the Sacred College
and the council was to be avoided at all costs. He
sought to get the nations to listen to reason, but he had
great difficulty in securing a delay of a few hours before
the opening of the fourth session.

Sigismund succeeded in turning this brief respite to
good account. He operated with such firmness and
shrewdness that when the sitting opened, the cardinals
and the national deputies were agreed in suppressing
everything that could wound the Sovereign Pontiff. No

^ VoN DER Hardt, iv. p. 81. Hefele, X. p. 401. The translation of
the second article in this author appears defective. Schelstraete,
Tractatus de deeretis Constantiensibus (Rome, 1686), p. 3.

298

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

doubt the majority of the members of the council were
not in the secret, but it was intended to snatch a surprise
vote.

The fourth session then opened on Holy Saturday,
March 30, 1415, under the presidency of Cardinal Orsini,
the Cardinals of Viviers and Cambrai being, or pretending
to be, ill. Great was the astonishment of the majority
when they heard Cardinal Zabarella read three articles
which were entirely different from the four that they had
approved nationaliter the day before. Only the first
point was approximately the same ; and here again the
words '' reform of the head and of the members " had been
suppressed.

The second article was conceived thus : John XXIII.
shall not be able, without the consent of the fathers,
to withdraw from Constance the members and servants
of the Roman Court, whose absence would threaten to
dissolve the council.

The third article : All penalties decreed by the Pope
since his departure from Constance against the sup-
porters and members of the assembly shall be nuU.^

These three articles were much milder than the four
proposed by the nations. The skill and influence of
the cardinals had succeeded in avoiding the reefs. But
the dissatisfaction of the bitter enemies of the Pope
was extreme, especially among the delegates of the
University of Paris.

An unexpected occurrence came to drive into fury
those who were hostile to John XXIII. On Good

1 Animated discussion has arisen as to the text of the decrees of the
fourth session, and particularly as to the words : " reform in the head
and the members." They are not to be found in sixteen MSS,, but appear
in some others, as well as in the printed deeds of the council. Probably
Zabarella omitted them in reading them : and this was doubtless the
cause of the lively reproaches afterwards directed against him.

299

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Friday, the Pontiff had left S chaff hausen and had taken
refuge in the castle of Laufenburg, fourteen leagues to
the west of that town. He feared, he said, that Sigis-
mund threatened an immediate attack on the Duke of
Austria, and he was increasing the distance between
himself and Constance. The nations saw a fresh hostile
act and a perfidious manoeuvre in this second flight.

What was far more important, the Pope was said to
have declared before a notary that all the concessions
he had made at Constance had been extorted from him
by force, and that they were therefore nuU.^

Thenceforward, abusive and threatening protests were
redoubled and it was resolved not to mince matters, to
strike blow for blow and to make John XXIII. feel how
far the council was superior to him. There seemed to be
nothing more opportune than to resume the four violent
articles that had been passed on Good Friday by the
nations of France, Germany, and England.

The fathers were hastily assembled in a general
meeting : and the session was held on the Saturday in
Easter week, on April 6. It was the fifth. Cardinal
Orsini presided again. D'Ailly, the Cardinal of Viviers,
and several others did not appear. Nevertheless, seven
cardinals were present, but they took care to declare
beforehand that they only did so in order to avoid giving
scandal, and not to approve the extreme decisions which
they expected to see formulated. No doubt they
dreaded a phenomenon, which is pecuHar to deliberative
assembhes, and which has been lately named general
insanity. The Bishop of Posen immediately read five
articles demanded by the nations, and embracing all the
points agreed to on Good Friday and Easter Eve. The
first was the one we have already noted with the adden-

* NiEM, Vita Johannis XXIII. , apud Von der Hardt, ii. col. 309.

300

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

dum demanding reform in the head and members of the
Church,

The second, which was quite as deplorable and
offensive, called for rigorous measures against the
Sovereign Pontiff, if he refused to obey the decrees of the
Council of Constance or of any other general council.

The third and fourth were nothing more than the
second and third of the fourth session. They forbade
the Pontiff to summon the curia to himself, and annulled
all the condemnations issued against the council.

The fifth was in accord with the fourth of the gathering
of March 29. It affirmed that Pope John and the
members of the council had always enjoyed the fullest
liberty.^

What a sad page is this in the Church's history ! It
shows how true was the reflection of Pellisson when the
four articles of 1682 were accepted : " Ecclesiastical
jurisdiction is a matter which is hardly ever dealt with
without carrying people further than they intend to go."

§ 4. Estimate of the Decrees of Constance,

Such in their schismatical essence are the famous
articles of Constance, taken up and further exaggerated
by the conventicle of Basle, and extolled in 1682 once
more. In germ they contain the whole of GaUican
doctrine, which has done such harm to the Church of
France, and which has perhaps been " the most formid-
able and deeply rooted of our errors." ^

These four articles are merely an act of war and ill-
feeling, the outcome of a hasty vote at a time of trouble

1 Histoire de Louis XIV., i. p. 227.

2 MoNTALEMBERT, Des intevcts catholiques, (Euvres, v. p. 35.

301

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

by an incompetent assembly, which perhaps only in-
tended them as a temporary expedient, but which in
any case declared that it was oecumenical without any
right to do so, and which on this point has never received
the approval of the Sovereign Pontiff.^

That this thesis of the superiority of the Council over
the Pope was until then unknown in the Church cannot
be disputed by any theologian, unless he pushes his
foregone conclusions to the point of choosing as the
speaking-trumpet of the true doctrine such and such a
heterodox doctor, this or that Gallican bishop, or some
one or other professor of the Faculty of Paris at the end
of the fourteenth century. That this opinion, which was
until then considered heretical, was put forward at this
period merely as a means of bringing the Schism to an
end, is clearly acknowledged by all the corypheuses of
Gallicanism. That it was passed ab irato in a vindictive
spirit, and to wreak vengeance on the proceedings of
John XXIIL, all who have followed our narrative will
agree.

There is every reason to beheve that the human spirit
in its weakest inspirations had a greater share in all
these dehberations than the Spirit of God.

Moreover, these articles, which were so contrary to the
most honom-ed traditions, and of such an extraordinary
cast, were prepared, drawn up, and promulgated in
passionate haste.^ Three sessions of the council were
held one after the other within twelve days (from March
26 till April 6), and each of them altered for the worse
the measures and decisions previously adopted. It was
an opits tumultuarium, thus well described by de Maistre :

^ Of. Gerson^ Be Potentate Ecclesiae, Coiisid. x. and xi., ii. col. 240 ff.
BossuETj Defensio, vi. c. 19.

2 This is the opinion of Bellarmine and the doctors of Louvain. De
Concit. auctoritate, xix.

302

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

" Let us put ourselves," he says, " in the place of the
bishops of Constance, torn by all the passions of Europe,
divided into nations, opposed to one another in interest,
weary of delays, irritated by contradiction, separated
from the cardinals, and to crown all other evils, under
the influence of jarring memories. Is it, then, any
wonder that since they were also urged on by intense
desire to have done with the most lamentable Schism
that had ever afllicted the Church, these bishops should
have said to themselves : " There is only one way of
restoring peace to the Church and of reforming her in
head and members. We must command this head
himself. We must declare that he is obhged to obey
us." Men of splendid intelligence, in subsequent
centuries, have argued no better." ^

And it is these decrees of passion and conflict, drawn
up in such scandalous haste, without precision, and
without reserve, that some would compare in value with
the articles of faith of the ancient councils, which were
so long expected, so thoroughly weighed, so learnedly
deliberated on, and so plainly approved !

What, then, is the true scope of these resolutions of
Constance ? Were they intended to have the force of
law in the future, at all times and in all places, or had
they merely in view the precarious position of the Church
at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Have we to
do with an absolute thesis or a transitory expedient ?
Is it a question of a dogma, proclaiming the superiority
of the Council over the Pope, or of a means invented for
a time of Schism in order to escape from an embarrassing
and perilous position ? Many grave theologians have
declared that these decrees are exceptional and that
they are inappHcable to ordinary times in which the

1 De Maistrb^ Du Pape, lib. i. ch. xi.

303

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Church obeys a single and undisputed Pope.^ They
find a support in the very text of the articles, which set
forth the sole and exclusive end of the gathering
assembled at Constance, "pro extirpatione praesentis
schismatis, ad consequendum facilius, securius, et liberius
unionem et reformationem Ecclesiae. They remark, more-
over, that certain other terms of the decrees are intended
to fix limits : they only have to do with the present
council and the extraordinary circumstances in which
the Church then was. What matters it, they add, if the
conventicle of Basle claimed to give these articles an
absolute value and to establish the claims of the Council
as against the Pope in a permanent manner ? Is it not
right to deny altogether the authority of this meeting of
schismatic prelates, which can only be Hkened to the
robber- council of Ephesus of 449 ? ^

Thus do these authors speak, and their arguments are
not at all wanting in force, although the whole Gallican
school has ever desired to give these conciliar declara-
tions a general application.^

Others more reasonably, as it appears to me, dispute
the value of these decrees, not so much with regard
to their bearing, as with reference to the source
whence they proceed.^ No doubt, they say, the council

1 MuzzABELLi, De auctor. Summi Pontificis, ii. c. xvii. §§ 2-7. Palma,
Praelect. hist., iv. p. 1^^ c. iv. p. 63. Christopher Histoire de la Papaute
pendant le XIV« siecle, iii. p. 485. Jageb, Histoire de rEglise, xiii. lib.
39, p. 107. Ti BRECREMATA, Apol. ifi Couc. Floven. , Summa de EccL, vol.
ii. c. xcix.

^ Cf. ch. vi. above, p. 117.

2 Cf. BossuET, pars ii. lib. v. c. 1.3-21.

* BALiiERiNi, De Potestate Ecclesnae, c. vii., in Migne, Theol. curms com-
pletus, iii. col. 1350-1359. Bouix, De Papa, i. c. vi. p. 460. Pastor,
Histoire des Popes, i. p. 208. Hefele, Histoire des Conciles, x. p. 406.
JuNGMANN, Dissert, select, in hist, eccl., vi. p. 808. Hebgenbobtheb,
Histoire de CEglise, iv. p. 558. Other authors rely upon both reasons,

llONCAOLIA, MaNSI, LiTTA, RoHRBACHER.

304

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

of 1415 declared itself to be oecumenical. This could
not be helped, if the inference was to be drawn that all
"persons, of any and every position or dignity whatsoever,
even if it he papal, are obliged to obey it, but was it really
oecumenical ?

It is not enough to make a claim to establish it. Two
obediences were not at all represented at Constance, and
never approved the famous decrees. The cardinals pro-
tested in a body. Moreover, the Pope John XXIII. was
absent, nor had he sent any legates to represent him, so
that the flight of the Pontiff, which gave rise to the
schismatical decrees, is at the same time one of the
reasons that deprives them of any value whatever.

But what is a council without a Pope, except a number
of members without a head ?

In the present case, whatever opinion one may hold
about the legitimacy of the Pope, it is certain that there
was discussion and separation between the council and
the true Pontiff. Without a Pope there can no more be
an oecumenical council than without a head there can be
a living body.

So, then, the assembly of Constance was from the
start merely a particular council, or a meeting of four
nations, convoked by the head of the Empire to de-
liberate about the particular case of the Schism, and not
about the general question of the prerogatives of the
council and of its superiority to the Roman Pontiff. It
only became oecumenical after its thirty-fifth session,
when Gregory XII. had resigned, and when Sicily and
the county of Poix, together with the Spanish peninsula,
had repudiated Benedict's obedience. Only in its nine
last sessions could it claim to represent the universal
Church.

But, answer the Galileans, the decrees of the council
u 305

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

were approved by Martin V., a Pope universally re-
cognised.i What, then, is wanting to give them legal
force ?

Where are the authentic documents that prove this
approbation ? one may reply.

It is inaccurate to say that the Sovereign Pontiff ever
accepted these irregular articles and sanctioned them
with his supreme and sovereign authority. On the
contrary, when, in 1418, the ambassadors of the King of
Poland wanted to get the Pope to utter a solemn con-
demnation of the Dominican, John of Falkenberg, who
was already found guilty by the nations nationaliter,
Pope Martin V. opposed them and replied : "All that
has been decreed by the present council in matters of faith
and conciliariter must be beheved and held inviolably.
I approve and ratify it, but not what has been done in
any other way, non aliter nee alio modo,'' ' But at
Constance conciliariter is always opposed to nationaliter.

This restrictive decision was reiterated by Augustine
of Pisa, the fiscal procurator, who in the Pope's name
asked the protonotaries and notaries to pubhsh all the
documents that had to do with the assembly in full,
and who relied upon this important distinction.

But what had the council determined in matters of
faith besides the articles condemning Wicliffe and
Huss ? It is these articles that the Pope approves, and
the same afl&rmation is to be found in the series of

^ A Sede apostolica comprobatu , says the second article of the declaration
of 1682. Funk understands this word of the Pope's in a restricted sense :
according to him, it only applies to the Falkenberg affair. Hubleu
appears to be of the same opinion. Die Komtanzer Reformation (Leipzig,
1867), pp. 263-280.

2 Bouix, Be Papa, i. p. .524. Hefele, i. pp. 50 and 59. Jlngmann,
Diasert. select., vi. p. 310. Labbe et Cossart, xiii. p. 258. Von der
Hardt, iv. p. 1558. Cf. Funk, Kirchenge.schichtliche Ahhandlungen nnd
Untermchungen (Paderborn, 1897), p. -191. Vaix)is, iv. p. 506.

306

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

questions ordered by Martin V. to be put to all who
were suspected of Wicliffite or Hussite heresy ^

The five propositions already cited are not of this
nature, for they are not invested with the solemn formulae
which ordinarily guard decrees of faith that are binding
on the belief of all the faithful. The fathers themselves
considered them for the most part as simple synodal
declarations having an application to a given case.
They never condemned as heretics, drove out of the
Church, or excommunicated those who might think
otherwise.^

Furthermore, did the assembly act conciliariter in its
fourth and fifth sessions ? No, and this has been proved.
At this date, during the months of March and April, the
council was not yet oecumenical. Whatever it decreed
was decided by the nations, who formed so many little
particular synods, deliberating independently, and of
very unequal numbers and value.

These articles were acknowledged without any par-
ticipation on the part of the cardinals and against the
will of part of the assembly, but with the votes of more
than three hundred simple priests or married laymen,
voting without any right to do so.

Lastly, in his bull of February 22, 1418, Martin V.
makes the oecumenical character of the council binding
on the belief of the faithful, but he makes an important
reservation when he adds : " Hold for certain whatever
it has determined in favour of the faith and for the good
of souls." Thereby he seems to exclude certain decrees,
without wishing to express himself more formally on the
point, so as not to disturb the peace. It would have

1 Hefele, xi. p. 58. Cf. Ballerini, in Migne, Theol. cursiu,- completus,
iii. col. 1353.

^ Ballerini, col. 1359.

307

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

been so dangerous, at this date, to enter into a conflict
with the expiring council.

So it was with Eugenius, Martin V.'s successor. In

446 he was quite wilHng to approve of all the decisions

of Constance, " that were not in any way prejudicial to

the rights, the dignity, and the pre-eminence of the

Apostolic See."

Judge whether the decrees accepted at the first sessions
are in favour of the faith and of souls, and whether they
could be acknowledged without doing grievous wrong to
the superior authority of the Sovereign Pontiffs.^ These
reservations are significant and must be taken into
consideration.

Martin V. and Eugenius IV., therefore, did not approve
of these decrees, but implicitly repudiated them as not
belonging to matters of faith, as approved merely
nationaliter, and not by the whole assembly conciliariter.
Moreover, the Popes who came after always permitted
the opposite to be taught to what had been decreed by
the Council of Constance.

This was also the opinion expressed by Cardinal
d' Ailly in general terms, and he was intimately connected
with the whole of the events and is considered as one of
the fathers of GalUcanism. " This dehberation carried
on by the nations outside the assembly, without votes
cast at a common sitting, appears to many persons not to
be ranked as a dehberation made by the general council,
conciliariter facta. . . . However this may be, I submit
the definition of this matter to the will of the holy
council." "

Therefore, a year after the famous sessions, d' Ailly

1 Of. Hefele, xi. p. 110. Valois, iv. p. 507-

2 De Eccksiae concilii generalu et Summi Pontificia auctoritate, 0pp.
Ger^onii, ii col. 940 and 960. Cf. Ballerini, col. 1351.

308

THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE

and many others thought that these decisions, which
were so novel in the Church, had not been taken con-
ciliariter, and awaited a definite determination of the
point.

He who, according to Bossuet,^ was the Hght of this
assembly, he who gave the best explanation of its
decisions, thus appears to give up the work of the three
sessions, although in the eyes of Gallicanism this work
has always seemed the decisive argument and the
capital proof.

A day came when he, who after d'Ailly was the greatest
of the defenders of Gallican privileges, Bossuet, was
tired of incessantly turning back to a number of sophisms
and inconsistencies where his downright mind and
strong good sense were ill at ease. The concession that
he thought himself forced to make to the civil power and
national prejudice rightly appeared to him exaggerated.
Perhaps, too, he bethought him of the account he would
have to give to God of the part he played in the assembly
of 1682, and of the Defence of the too notorious declara-
tion which was the sin and the torment of his life.

Hear de Maistre : " One cannot consider this great
man without interest, nailed, so to speak, to an un-
grateful task, which he could never give up ur bring to an
end. After having made, re-made, changed, corrected,
abandoned, resumed, mutilated, supplemented, erased,
interhned, and annotated his work, he concluded by
turning it completely upside down. He changes the
title, and binds himself to make no further mention of
the four articles." ^ He would have modified the book

1 " Sancti conventus lumen et in dogmatibus explicandis facile
princeps.'^ Def. declar. cleri gallicani, c. 30.

2 De I'Eglise Gallicanej lib. ii. ch. ix. Cf. G:^rin_, Recherchea hutoriques
aur PAisemhl^e de 1682, p. 845.

309 .

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

from beginning to end, had his infirmities and death
not cut his time short.

The attitude of Peter d'Ailly is Hke that of Bossuet,
and the Cardinal of Cambrai holds the articles of Con-
stance cheap, like the Bishop of Meaux holds the decrees
of Paris. Both are hampered with their own work and
with the consequences that may be drawn from their
principles. Are not these two judgments, separated as
they are by more than two centuries, the best theological
criterion and the soundest commentary on the declara-
tions of 1415 and 1682 ?

Nevertheless, several centuries had to pass before the
Vatican Council would strike a mortal blow at the
doctrine which was too long taken advantage of by the
enemies of the Church. The great act of 1870 has put
an end to all the fluctuations of thought and to all the
hesitations of obedience, of which this beginning of
Schism was the cause. It has shed Hght in a definite
fashion on this point of dogma, and has closed the
important debate that the fourteenth century saw arise,
and which had lasted down to our own times.

310

CHAPTER XVI

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

§ 1. Heresies and the Schism, John Huss,

At first blush one would suppose that this chapter has
only an indirect connection with the great division in the
Church of which we have undertaken to record the
history. And yet heresies naturally and logically grow
out of Schism. When the infallible magisterium is
repudiated, disputes quickly arise, and then dogma gets
denied. If schism breaks up social communion, heresy
immediately comes after it to break down doctrinal
communion. England, at first schismatical and then
heretical, will soon afford us a sad example : so will it be
with Russia and Greece. " When schisms continue, new
heresies arise." Such is the historical and theological
law laid down by Henry of Langenstein in the fourteenth
century.^

The Great Schism, though essentially and originally
differing from that of England and Russia, leads to the
same results and gives rise to similar troubles. A
dubious Papacy has no authority, a disputed Sacred
College has no prestige ; councils, when belittled and
despised, are powerless to attain their peaceful ends ;
certain bishops at times put forward strange propositions
from a dogmatical point of view ; a few doctors, members

1 Invectiva contra monstrum Bahylonis, partly printed by A. Kneer,
Rome, 1893, after a Breslau MS., cod. 320, v. 253 and 797. Entstehung
der konziliaren Theorie, pp. 127-129.

311

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

of famous universities, approve and maintain heretical
opinions to the very last.

John Huss is the most celebrated of the revolters.
His errors prepared the way for deeper revolutions that
were to shake the world to its foundations and drench
the future with blood.

In the first book of his History of the French Revolution^
Louis Blanc relates, with his usual burning and gloomy
eloquence, which is often impassioned to the point of
injustice, the drama of John Huss appearing before the
fathers of Constance. In this historical fact he sees the
first act of the great struggle between the Church and the
Revolution, between divine authority and human
individuahsm. The heretic at the bar of the council is
for him the intrepid champion of fraternity, which has
been changed by the Church, and of equality between all
men, priests and laymen. It is John Huss who is the
first defender of this new spirit, the apostle of the most
radical social reforms. " Until then," says the re-
volutionist historian, " revolts of conscience and the
cry of the people, the movement of the human mind and
the trembhngs of the travailing earth had only issued in
theological revolutions. . . . Insolence (that is to say,
authority) branded as heresy what in our days it con-
demns as rebellion. The Revolution, which was prepared
for by philosophy and carried on by pohtics, and will only
be achieved by sociahsm, had to begin with theology."
And the radical writer adds in conclusion : " Clearly it
is a great question that is in debate between the council
and John Huss." 1

Perhaps it was even still more grave than was sus-
pected by those who were to be the judges of the bold
innovator. The fathers of Constance had just pro-

' L. Bi^NC, Uistoire de la Revolution Fraru^aise, i. ch. i.

312

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

claimed the superiority of the Council over the Pope. In
doing so, they had inflicted a blow on the monarchical
form of the Church, opening up the way to the stormy
government of assemblies, and leading on to the
superiority of the latter over kings. " Why should a
temporal monarchy be more absolute than a spiritual
one ? Was a crown more sacred than a tiara ? " ^ The
Coimcil of Constance had yielded on the question of the
supreme power of the Roman Pontiff : was it to abdicate
before the heresy of Huss ? Was it to open with its own
hands the era of religious and social revolutions that
John Huss was preparing, and to leave a free field to all
innovations ? The attitude of the fathers in the suit of
this heretic will show that here the council knew how to
uphold and defend all the rights of truth.

There are two well-marked divisions in the agitated
life of the professor of the Bohemian University : the
first, in which he appears as a more or less demagogical
innovator ; the second, in which he is a determined and
obstinate heresiarch. Whoever studies his history will
find in him first a Lammenais and then a Luther.

Born in 1369, in a Bohemian village, John Huss soon
made his way into one of the Universities, which in those
days were open to the least of fortune's favourites. He
rapidly became a professor, and then Dean of the
Faculty of Arts, and finally, in 1412, rector of the
University. He was a tall man, with a lean, ascetic face,
skilful in dialectics, of a rough eloquence, full of vigour,
energy, and subtlety. He swept people along with him
rather than persuaded them, was more of a tribune
than of an orator or professor, and bitter invective was
his favourite weapon. Juvenal and Dion Chrysostom
were his masters rather than St John or St Irenaeus.

1 Ibid., chs. i. and vi.

31S

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

He was ruthless against whatever he took to be erroneous,
and never spared even the highest personaHties. Especi-
ally did he fall upon the clergy, seduced one section of
them and attacked the rest, with the animosity of an
obstinate and ill-balanced mind. He called for reform,
even if it were to bring revolution in its train.

The first errors of John Huss reached him from abroad.
Wicliffe had preached subversive doctrines in England :
he had stirred up the people by attacking both ecclesi-
astical and civil power. From 1S85 his philosophic
theories had made their way into Bohemia, and about
1402 his theological works were circulated there most
extensively. John Huss had the same feelings and
hatreds as the English heresiarch. Soon he embraced
all his errors.^

As a professor of the University, he was received with
applause by youthful enthusiasts. Preaching in the
Czech language in a Prague church, he carried away an
ardent and ignorant people by his sectarian violence and
fanatical ardour. As confessor of Queen Sophia, he had
acquired powerful friends and protectors at the court of
the weak and voluptuous Wenceslas.

From 1407 the master more and more inclined towards
Wi cliff e. He wrote to his partisans in England, and openly
defended his errors, notwithstanding the opposition of
the archbishop and of the majority of the clergy.

Patriotism soon came to confuse the situation by firing
people's minds still further. Then, as to-day, two
parties divided the University of Prague. On the one

' Cf. J. LosKRTH, Huh und Wiclif (Prague, Leipzig, 1884). J. B.
Schwab, Johannes Ger.son, p. 527 ff. Budensieg, /. Wiclif und seine Zeit
(Gotha^ 1885). Stevenson, The Truth about J. Wiclif. Krummel, Leben
de.s J. Hiuis, eines bekannten Reformatoren (Kempten, 1873), and other
works on the question by the same author. Like I'alacky, Krummel is
an admirer of J. Huss, but he sometimes makes reserves.

314

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

side were the Germans, attached to Gregory XII. and
hostile to the new teaching; on the other were the
Bohemians, upholders of the Council of Pisa, and mostly
addicted to Wicliffism. The Germans had three votes
to one in the Bohemian Alma Mater ; but Wenceslas
took sides against them, and decided that henceforth the
Czech nation should have three votes, and the three
German-speaking nations (Germany, properly so-called.
Saxony, and Poland) only one (January 18, 1409). By
way of reply the Germans withdrew in a body. The
Czechs, who had long been under their yoke, greatly
rejoiced. In order to accentuate the meaning of this
step still further, John Huss was nominated rector of the
University thus reduced. No doubt it emerged from
the struggle less numerous, but more united and em-
boldened by an unexpected victory.

The cause of the Bohemian Wicliffites was taken
before Pope Alexander V., who summoned the King to
take proceedings against them. A synod, under the
presidency of the archbishop, condemned the works of
the heresiarch, whom Huss and his party took as their
leader, to be burnt.

The University protested in the name of the reputa-
tion of Bohemia for orthodoxy. The Czechs took all
the theological novelties as a symbol and instrument of
their national awakening.^ It was to avenge the insult
suffered by the Bohemian nation that John Huss
appealed to the new Pope John XXIII., and his whole
party heaped insults on the Archbishop of Prague and
the priests who had held true.^

1 GoYAu^ Le Vatican (Paris, 1895), p. 119.

2 " In his language one recognises rather the frenzy of a sectary than
the wisdom of an Apostle." Such is the admission of a Protestant,
]^MiLE DE BoNNECHOSE, Otherwise a great upholder of the reformer. Les
Reformateurs avant la Reformer Jean Bus, lib. i. ch. iii. p. 128.

315

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

A knight named Jerome of Prague, a former student
of the University of Paris, had become one of the heads
of the party. He openly upheld the innovators, and
outstripped the violence of the master whose punishment
he was afterwards to share.

Henceforward the demagogue, smitten with a desire
for unwholesome popularity, was to become a heresiarch ;
and he flung Bohemia into a long and bloody religious
revolution and became one of the forerunners of the
apostate of Wittemberg.

" After John Huss, the world in its bitterness brought
forth Luther," says Bossuet. Both of obscure origin, they
were naturally endowed with an eloquence that carries
away the crowd. Both proclaim at the outset a deep
contempt for the Roman Pontiff and for the bishop, and
let loose religious passion with a light heart. The one,
Hke the other, relies subsequently on the laity, gives up
to them the government of the Church, and places it
without either repugnance or reserve in the hands of
Caesar, Pope and King.

Like Luther, John Huss was summoned before the
court of Rome, and condemned by it. Like him, too,
the Bohemian heresiarch appealed to a general council,
and continued to preach his doctrines with ardour
despite all prohibitions. At Prague, as a century after-
wards in certain German diets, civil authority, troubled
and irresolute, allowed itself to be checked by a few
hypocritical protests, and the sword of justice to become
blunted in its hands. John Huss relied on the Czech
nobility and on the lord of Austia, as Luther did on
the Elector of Saxony and Ulrich von Hutten. The
first found an asylum in the castles of Kozihradek
and Krakovec, as the last did in the dungeon of the
Wartberg.

316

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

Even the doctrines of Huss are closely related to those
a century afterwards taught by Luther. The Bohemian
heresiarch, too, began by an assault on the Catholic
teaching as to the crusades and the pubhcation of
indulgences (1411).^

But this first dispute was only to give rise to a more
extended rupture. For him the Church was merely a
society of the predestinated [fraedestinati). Those who
are not among them, those whose damnation God
foresees (praesciti), can never become a part of the
mystical body of Jesus Christ.^

There is no acquisition or preservation of merit.
Faith only and not keeping the law is the means of
salvation.^ Wichffe had already maintained these
ruinous and distressing doctrines.* The Church was
founded on Christ and not upon Peter ; the first of the
Apostles had never been its true head. For John Huss
the true Pontiff was Jesus Christ alone. The Church
could be governed without any vicar of Christ. The
Pope was sometimes Antichrist, sometimes the servant
of Antichrist. Sometimes he had taught heresy ; and
he ought to have no material possessions. This heretic
was not afraid of attacking papal bulls in the most
disgraceful manner, and to all who were wiUing to Hsten
he related the story, as apocryphal as it was shameful, of
Pope Joan.^ Bishops, priests, and monks, especially

1 Pai^cky, Documenta. Hefele^ Histoire des Conciles, x. p. 850.

2 Cappenberg, Utrum Hussii doctrina fuerit haeretica (Muuster, 1834).
Friedrich, Die Lehre des Joh. Huss (Ratisbon^ 1862)^ p. 13. Hefele, pp.
356, 462-504.

^ Arminius Jepp, Gerson, Wide/, Hussus inter se cum reformatoribus com-
parati, p. 61 (Gottingen, 1857). Cf. Winkelmann (Joa. Cav. Aug.).
Same title and same date.

* Jepp, pp. 33 and 38. Wiclef_, Dialogus, ii. 73 ; iv. 22.

^ Hus, de Ecclesia. Ibid. , 2nd letter to Christian de Prachatic, in
HoFLER, Jean Hus, p. 222. Ibid. , 5tli letter.

317

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

those of the mendicant orders, were loaded in succession
with insult and contempt.

After having thus vilhfied and cast aside the living
rule of faith, the reformer ascribed all doctrinal authority
to one among dead rules, I mean Holy Scripture and the
law of Christ. He held that the Pope's decrees were
only so far obligatory as they were in accord with this
law ; but everyone was to be a judge of this concordance
or not. Here we have the right of private judgment, the
infalHble authority of the reason of the individual, as
proclaimed by Luther.^ Huss, moreover, claims for
everyone permission to read, and the right to interpret,
the Bible.

In expounding the doctrine of the Sacraments, this
innovator claims communion in both kinds for all the
faithful, i,e, the chalice for the laity. This was long the
chief point in dispute between the Bohemians and the
Roman Church.^ With less daring than WicHffe and
Luther, he used ambiguous language as to the perman-
ence of the substance of bread in the Host after the
consecration.^^ Auricular confession was unnecessary,
contrition being enough for salvation.*

As for veneration of relics, ecclesiastical censures, and
the foundation of civil authority, the opinions of Huss
hardly differ from those of Luther.^ Moreover, the
latter more than once acknowledged the influence of the
doctrines of the Bohemian apostate on his mind and

^ Palacky, Documenta, p. 448. Hefele, x. pp. 850, 520. A. H.
Wratislaw, The Commencement of Resistance to Papal Authority on the
Inferior Clergy (London, 1882).

2 Jepp, p. 56. Hefele, Op. cit., pp. 372, 448, 477.

3 Hefele, pp. 360, 455, 502.
* Jepp, p. 04.

^ See the thirty propositions condemned at Constance, and the thirty-
nine articles on which suspected heretics were cross-examined.
Denzinger, Enchiridion, No. 522 if.

318

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

conduct, and he honoured him as a great Christian
martyr, while blaming him for timidity. On the first
page of a Hussite hymn-book kept at Prague is an
engraving which represents Wicliffe striking a light, Huss
supplying the coal, and Luther waving a burning torch.^
It is a true symbol of the relations which morally bound
the three men together, though they never met in this
life. The heresiarch of Wittemberg wrote thus insult-
ingly to the Pope : " Everything you condemn in Huss
I approve, and everything you approve I condemn.
Here is the retractation you have bidden me to make.
Do you want anything more in that line ? " " The
most violent fevers do not produce such outbursts as
these," says Bossuet, in relating the matter .^

§ 2. Judgment and Sentence,

At the time we have just reached, the Council of
Constance was about to open. Sigismund bade several
Czech nobles invite the innovator to appear. The latter
had several times appealed from the Pope to a general
council, and therefore could not refuse this invitation.
Was it arrogance and infatuation ? Was it mental
aberration ? Huss had a naive and presumptuous con-
fidence in the goodness of his cause, and he never belied
it. Therefore he decided to expound his doctrines to
the reforming council and to attempt to justify himself.
He replied to Sigismund : " I have always taught openly
and never in secret, and I demand the right of speaking
in public assembly and of debating with my opponents.
I have nothing to fear in confessing Christ, even if, in

1 Cf. Janssen, AUemagne et la Reformej i. 580 ; ii. pp. 83, 155, 413.
^ Hutoire des Variations, i. ch. 25.

319

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

order to defend His faith, it were necessary to risk the
last penalty." ^

He had already often said in pubHc debate : " I am
ready to undergo the penalty of being burnt, provided
that my accusers suffer the same punishment if de-
feated." 2

He had, indeed, obstinate adversaries, who were
prepared to attack his dogmatic novelties before the
Council, and who had already collected together the
proofs of their main charges in Bohemia. The reformer
left Prague on October 11, 1414, accompanied by
numerous friends. Almost everywhere he met with a
favourable reception, though he had not yet received the
safe- conduct promised him by Sigismund.^

On arriving at Constance, on November 3, he obtained
an assurance from Pope John that he had nothing to
fear for the moment, that the excommunication he had
incurred had been suspended, and that his trial would
not begin before the arrival of the King of the Romans.

The Pontiff had forbidden him to say Mass and to

* Palacky, Documenta, p. 60. Hofler, Maguster J. Hun, Part ii.
p. 2f)0. Jean Hus et le concile de Constance, Analecta juris poiitificii,
1872.

2 Documenta, p. 18. Hofler, Part i. p. 164. Hefele, pp. 348, 353, 518.

3 The safe-conduct, which has been made the ground of so many
charges, was brought to Constance on November 5 by Wenceslas from
Duba. It was meant to guarantee Huss from illegal violence en route,
and not from legal proceedings before the Council. It was only to facilitate
his journey in his quae cekritatem et securitatem itineris concernunt, tarn
per terram tarn per aquam. In a similar document addressed to Jerome
of Prague, we read that it is intended to keep him a violentia, justitia
semper salva. A safe-conduct is only a passport, which cannot be used
to free its bearer from a penalty which he has incurred, or to guarantee
him against the sentence of a court to which the accused has often
himself appealed. Cf. Hefele, pp. 336, 459, 521 if. Hofler, Histor.
polit. Blatter, iv. p. 421. It should be added that several German writers
admit a certain amount of duplicity in the Emperor. Cf. Literarische
Centralblatt, Aug. 12, 1901.

320

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

preach : nevertheless Huss celebrated every day and
spoke on every occasion without the least reserve. This
disobedience, as contemptuous as it was imprudent,
displeased the Pope and the cardinals. They invited
the reformer to give an account of his conduct and
opinions. As his answers seemed to them unsatisfactory,
they put him under ward in the Dominican convent,
near the lake, on December 6, 1414. Several months he
remained in this modified captivity, receiving visitors,
and keeping up a constant correspondence with his
Bohemian friends, to whom he related his hopes as a
false prophet, and later on his dreams as a visionary.

On April 6, at the fifth session, the Council entrusted
the examination of the Hussite doctrines to Cardinals
d'Ailly and Philastre, assisted by the Bishop of Dol,
Stephen Coeuvret, the Abbot of Citeaux, and several
doctors. The Cardinal of Cambrai agreed to make a
report to the Council as to the questions of faith ; but
he demanded and obtained an order that lawyers should
argue and conduct the case. He was less happy in
begging the fathers to give sentence against Wichffe and
Huss in the name of the Council alone, without mention-
ing the Pope, because the Council was superior to him.
The commission appointed to investigate the question
reported against him by a large majority.^ This took

1 Hefele^ p. 414. Von der Hardt, iv. p. 136. Palacky, Documenta.
Schwab, Johannes Gerson, pp. 549-609. Ballerini, Op. cit., iii. col.
1362. Only twelve out of forty theologians agreed with Peter d'Ailly.
Hence the majority did not wish the decision of April 6 to be binding on
general belief, so that the superiority of the Council to the Pope should
be an article of faith. It is also remarkable that the Cardinal of Cambrai
does not quote the decrees of the fifth session in favour of his opinion.
Nor does he mention it in the treatise he published seventeen months
later, entitled : De Ecclesiae, Concilii generalis, Romani Pontijicis et
Cardinalium auctoritate. He rather appeals, as we have seen, p. 308, to a
future decision of the council. But this doctrinal decision was never
reached.

X 321

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

place on April 17, 1415, eleven days after the famous
fifth session of April 6. It was like the first contra-
diction by the council of the anti-papal decrees it had
carried in a moment of passion.

While awaiting the appearance of John Huss, the
Czech nobles, his partisans, several times attempted in
vain to obtain his liberation. They had to be satisfied
with bringing him out of the Dominican convent and
getting him transferred to Gottlieben, a castle of the
Bishop of Constance, on the banks of the Rhine and not
far from the town.

I have seen the old ivy- covered tower in which the
heresiarch was locked up. Crowns with laudatory
inscriptions in the Czech language have been deposited
in it : and, on the large wooden cage where he is said
to have spent some weeks, an unknown hand had just
placarded the famous safe- conduct, violated by his
imprisonment, according to some historians, as a
retrospective and permanent accusation.

At the beginning of June 1415, Huss was transferred
to the Franciscan convent at Constance and underwent
several cross-examinations.

We will not enter in detail into this theological con-
troversy, or rather tragic duel, prolonged for five weeks,
and ending in the death of one of the combatants.

Suffice it to say that the sessions were conscientiously
presided over and directed, that the innovator was
examined about matters involving the faith, and that
two hundred witnesses were heard. The Cardinal of
Cambrai was chairman of the commission of inquiry.
Huss repHed sometimes with lying denials, sometimes
with sophistical reasoning that convinced nobody. When
witnesses were brought against him, he merely appealed
against them to his conscience or to Christ and treated

82%

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

his opponents as calumniators. He refused to subscribe
freely to the condemnation of the forty-two articles
taken from WicHffe,^ and would not always admit as
his the thirty-nine articles taken from his own books. ^

D'Ailly, however, who presided with more firmness
than indulgence, observed to Sigismund, in the presence
of the accused, that the exact and original terminology
of his subversive theories had been softened down more
than once in the formal allegations. Then, at the end
of the third examination, the cardinal repeated to him
what he had aheady said in the presence of, and with the
approval of, the King of the Romans : " John, two ways
are open to you : the first is to throw yourself simply and
unreservedly on the clemency of the council, which, out
of regard for the princes and yourself, will not fail to treat
you with humanity and indulgence. The other is to
persist in the defence of some of your articles. In the
latter case you will have further hearings ; but I warn

1 Cf. Hefele, pp. 455 and 468.

2 It is, however, to be regretted that the cross-examiners mixed up the
opinions of the School more than once with the theological discussions.
In these grave circumstances, what had philosophical quarrels between
nominalists and realists to do with opinions ascribed to Huss as to im-
panation } What could d'Ailly have answered, if the accused had made
this objection: ^'^But you yourself formerly acknowledged that my
opinion was possible, as being repugnant neither to reason nor to
Biblical authority, and as being easier and more reasonable than any
other theory".^ (Quaest. super., i. iii. iv. ; Sententiarum, Q. vi. a. i. f.
cclxiv.) Also if John Huss had remarked with regard to his explanation
of Tu es Petrus : " My opinion is the same as yours, and you have
defended it in public theses. You said before me, and like me, that the
rock is Christ and not Peter, non in petra Petrus, sed in petra Ghristus est
intelligendus ; have you forgotten this } " Recommendatio sacrae Scripturae.
D^Ailly had composed this treatise at the end of his course in 1380. It is
found in the works of Gerson, i. col. 604. Of. Salembier, Petrus de
Alliaco, pp. 232 and 235. ITiis is another proof of the danger of the
novelties of the School, and of the paradoxical theses wherein the young
doctors doubtless only saw an encounter of wits and matters for free
discussion. See ch. vi. above, p. 109.

323

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

you that men of distinction and learning will oppose you,
and I fear you will be on the losing side."

" I ask to be allowed another hearing," rephed the
accused ; " I want to give explanations of the incrimi-
nated articles."

D'Ailly was urgent, and Sigismund united in his
entreaties without obtaining anything. The writings
of the reformer were condemned to be burnt, but
immediately afterwards (June 24) Huss wrote to his
Bohemian friends letters recommending that they should
read them. His fixed idea is always to rely entirely on
Scripture and to wish to discuss its text with the fathers,^
as if the council were a parhament and not a tribunal.
He lived tossed between hope and fear, but obstinately
refused to sign a form of retractation, in spite of the
requests of d'Ailly and Zabarella.

At last, on Saturday, July 6, all the fathers were
convoked for the fifteenth general session and met in the
Cathedral of Constance. The Cardinal of Viviers pre-
sided, and the King of the Romans was present, arrayed
in all his majesty. The great trial, which had held all
minds in suspense, had to be finally decided. John Huss
was brought in and placed on a bench. On a table lay
the sacerdotal vestments, which were to be used for
the purpose of pubhc degradation, if the innovator
continued to prove obstinate.

After a short homily by the Bishop of Lodi, the
articles against Wicliffe were read, and then the thirty
charges specially brought against the Bohemian here-
siarch. After each allegation, Huss spoke and tried to
defend himself with more or less adroitness.

Several charges brought against him in the preceding

1 Documenta Johannis Hu.s, p. 137 ff. Ep. Ixxxv. Hefelr, pp. 493
and 496.

324

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

sessions had not been maintained, but the thirty articles
which had been retained seem directly opposed, not
only to the doctrinal authority of the Church, but to
secular authority also. From the session of June 8,
Sigismund understood this, and declared himself openly
against the innovator.^ " In all Christendom there is no
more dangerous heretic than Huss," he exclaimed.

The reading of the minutes of the preceding cross-
examinations continued on July 6, amidst the inter-
ruptions and protests of the accused. The tribunal had
prepared two forms of sentence, the first to be read in the
event of his repentance, and the second if he persisted
in his rebellion. But, in spite of all entreaties, not a
word of retractation passed the lips of John Huss. Thus
the Bishop of Concordia was obHged to read the second
sentence : " The holy Council has proofs that John
remains obstinate and incorrigible," he said, " and that
he refuses to return to the bosom of the Church, and to
abjure his errors. The assembly therefore decrees that
the guilty one shall be deposed and degraded, and that,
after having been cut off from the Church, he shall be
given over to the secular arm." ^

§ S. The Execution,

The fate of the heresiarch was to be fulfilled. Two
bishops approached the condemned man and degraded
him with the customary forms and imprecations. The
chaHce was taken from his hands, and the sacred
ornaments one after the other were removed from his
body, and his tonsure was deformed as a sign that he
had lost all his ecclesiastical privileges. Then his head

^ Hefele, p. 466. ^ Maxsi, xxvii. p. 733. Hardouin, viii. p. 410.

325

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

was covered with a paper mitre bearing the words : hie
est heresiarcha. Thus Huss was deHvered over to the
secular arm. Sigismund immediately summoned the
Count Palatine of the Rhine : " Here is the guilty man,"
said he. " Treat him as a heretic." The Count in turn
said to the Provost of Constance : " Seize Master John
Huss, and burn him as a convicted heretic."

Immediately the sergeants and the executioner laid hold
of the condemned man and made a path for him through
the three thousand soldiers and the countless crowd that
thronged the square. The cortege left the town dragging
John Huss through a mob inspired with various feeUngs.
He was asked if he wished to make his confession, and he
accepted the invitation. The chaplain, Ulrich Schorand,
approached him provided with full powers. " Master,"
said he, "I cannot give you absolution unless you
retract your errors." Huss then refused, and wanted
to begin a sermon in German. The Count Palatine
opposed this, and had the execution hastened on. When
bound to the fatal stake, and surrounded with wood and
straw, he again refused to save his life by a withdrawal.
At last the pyre was set on fire. The victim cried out
thrice : ^ " Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on
us ! " Then he died, and his body was soon consumed.
The cinders, with the smoking remains of the pyre, were
thrown into the Rhine.

This tragic death, the dark and mystic words uttered
by the innovator, and the words that were put in his
mouth at the last moment, all helped to stir popular
opinion at the time very deeply, and called forth posthu-

^ There is no contemporary account by a Catholic. Our only narrative
is by Mladenowitz, a strong supporter of John Huss. The story
attributed to Poggio, and printed at Reutlingen, in 1846, is a pure
invention. Cf. Orthuinus Gratius, op. cit., p. 152.

326

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

mous sympathy which may still be traced to-day.
Constance has kept the cart in which he reached the
town, and also the gate of his dungeon ; and it has
decorated with sculpture and painting the houses where
he dwelt and the prisons where he was locked up. Three
great pictures, all in honom- of the heresiarch, decorate
the immense hall which is wrongly called the council-
chamber; and they give Huss the noble, grave, and
ascetic face of Munkacsy's Christ, and to his judges and
guards angry and mean features.^

A granite memorial has been raised at Briihl on the
place of the heretic's execution, and despite the Hussite
doctrine about rehcs, certain bones found on the spot
where he was punished are kept with religious care.^

But the memory of the reformer was specially glorified
in Bohemia. There the sectarian spirit united with an
ill-informed patriotism to crown him with an aureole of
sanctity, and to prepare a vengeance that was worthy of
him. Do you see "kingdoms in revolt, Germany in
flames, armies a hundred thousand strong urged on to a
war of extermination : numerous populations flying from
their homes armed with a gospel and a sword, changing
their manner of life, and living only under the open sky,
always shuddering, clothed in iron, living in nomadic
cities made of waggons, a terrible series of massacres,
fabulous combats, and embraces ; and to preserve the
memory of all this fury, the country, like it was after the
defeat of Varus, whitened with bleaching bones ? Such
in principle and in practice was to be the war of which
the trial of John Huss was the bloody germ." ^

^ These paintings are by Pecht and Schwarer (1875). The Council, as
has been said, always met at the Cathedral, and never in this hall. The
conclave of 1417 was held in the Concilium Saal.

2 Rosgarten Museum at Constance.

' L. Bi^Nc, Histoire de la Revolution Fran^aise, i. ch. i.

327

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

The letters sent by way of notification and explanation
by the Council to the Bohemians did not succeed in
calming people's minds. The torture of Jerome of
Prague, on the contrary, renewed all their anger and
resentment.^

This knight in the service of John Huss, a scholar who
was as much of a sectary as his master, this Hiitten of
another Luther had been arrested in the Palatinate for
insulting the Council. First of all his captivity had
made him wiser, and he had yielded to the entreaties
that had been pressed upon him. He had accepted the
condemnation of his master's errors at a general session,
and publicly anathematised his perverse doctrines
(September 2S, 1415).2 In a letter written to a friend
he had affirmed that the heresiarch had been justly
condemned.^

The cardinals had demanded his immediate release,
but Jerome's compatriots who were at Prague, and who
had remained orthodox, were opposed to it, for they had
doubts about his sincerity. Like his master, he wished
to; appear before the Council in person, to reply to the
numerous charges brought against him, and to develop
to the utmost his own defence. As a matter of fact he
appeared in the midst of the general assembly on May
23, 1416, defended himself to the best of his ability, made
an extravagant eulogy of John Huss, and violently
attacked the Pope and the cardinals.

Next Saturday, May 25, the Council met in general
session (its twenty-first) to pronounce the final sentence.

^ Palacky, Documenta, iii. p. 369. Von der Hahdt, i. col. 425, and
liv. pp. 495 and 559. Denis, Hus et la guerre des Hussites (Paris, 1878).

^ Theodor. Urie, Historia Condi. Constant., in Von der Hardt, i. col.
181. Ibid., iv. p. 490. Mansi, xxvii. p. 791.

2 Documenta, p. 598. A letter to Lord Lacek of Krawar, Seneschal of
Moravia.

328

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

Before the fathers, Jerome ventured afresh on a long
diatribe against the clergy and retracted his retractation.
Like his master he was given over to the secular arm,
and died equally courageously at the stake in the square
of Bruhl.i

A few years ago a Protestant theologian, Dr Arminius
Jepp, in a grave thesis delivered before the Faculty of
Gottingen, claimed to show the similarity of the doctrines
of WicHffe, Huss, and Gerson. As for the Bohemian
heretic, he wrote : " Huss's stake is where the roads of
the Roman and Evangelical Churches part, never to
meet again. The blood of the Czech doctor still burdens
the conscience of Rome ; and the memory of this martyr
is still dear to our communion." ^

This Gottingen professor is only the echo of many
other reformers. We have related the facts. It will be
easy to establish the right if we put ourselves in the
social surroundings of the fifteenth century.

John Huss, the originator of the gravest error of his
times, was responsible both to religious and civil
society. He had to answer to the former, which he had
sinned against in attacking dogma, and to the latter,
which he had disturbed by his revolutionary and anti-
social teachings. The reHgious tribunal, the Council,
judges and condemns the heretic ; temporal authority,
the secular arm, receives the guilty man, strikes him

^ Cf. VoN DEB Hardt^ iv. p. 770. PalackYj Documenta, p. 624.
Pog-gio's letter to Leonard Aretinus is also given by Von der Hardt^ iii.
p. V. col. 64. The author was an eye-witness^ and speaks thus : Vidi
hunc eocitum, singulos actus inspexi. Sine perfidia, sine pertinacia hoc egerit,
certe ex philosophiae schola verum interemptum esse descripsisses. He then
compares Jerome to Scaevola and Socrates. The sceptical character and
licentious tone of the writings of the humanist Poggio are well known.
Cf. HefelEj X. p. 584.

^ Jepp, Gebson, Wiclef, Husstts inter se cum Reformatoribus comparati,
p. 68.

329

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

down and executes him, since he persists in propagating
rebeUion as well as heresy.

According to canon law, the accused is not summoned
before his judges to discuss dogma, to raise questions, and
to suggest doubts. He is examined to give an account of
his beliefs, and to be judged according to the higher law
constituted by the doctrine of the Church. It is a pubUc
examination of conscience undergone by the guilty one,
not a discussion which he undertakes and maintains.
To-day, after such an ecclesiastical cross-examination,
the penalty is purely spiritual. It is excommunication,
suspension, or inhibition. Formerly, in the society of
the Middle Ages, the condemned cleric came under
common law, and the temporal sanction followed on the
sentence pronounced by the tribunal of the Church.
'' He who broke off from religion was cut off from
human society : and the infidel was judged by the faith
of the general pubHc. Society had the right of defending
its necessary behefs, and of hindering a bhnd Samson
from bringing down the pillars of the temple." ^

Thus the two fora agreed together, and mutually
supported each other for the legitimate defence of
Christian society. The first passed sentence, and the
second carried out the decree, whatever it might be.

But what was the civil and criminal penalty in the
Middle Ages ? Note first, that it never touched secret
heretics who did not propagate their errors, or who only
erred in ignorance or repented openly and sincerely.

Moreover, we know that the sword never faltered in
the hand of the State. Mediaeval legislation was incom-
parably more severe and sanguinary than it is to-day.
Blasphemy, moral misdemeanours, false coining were
punished with fire; thieving and housebreaking met

^ Etienne LamYj Revue de.s deujc Mondes, 15th Aug. 1897, p. 722.

830

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

with hanging. In Saxony and Suabia, on which
Constance depended, the penal code ordered the heretic,
who was condemned by an ecclesiastical court, to be
burnt.^ John Huss was not unaware of this, and he
faced this terrible alternative, this crowning consequence
of his obstinacy.

The conciliar tribunal could only pronounce according
to the laws in force in the fifteenth century. Provisions
that seem severe to-day appeared neither extraordinary
nor unjust in the days of John Huss. Protestants who
blame us need only search through their own history till
they read of the principles of Bucer, Calvin, and even of
the gentle Melanchthon, on the same question. They
know how the first reformers practised toleration, and
they should show some reluctance in finding fault with
the judges of Constance, and in taxing them with cruelty.
Whatever the supporters of Huss may think, we beheve
it would have been better for Bohemia and for the Church
if this false doctor and rebellious priest had never been
born.

§ 4. Condemnation of some other Innovators.

The condemnation of John Huss was of interest alike
to civil and to ecclesiastical society. The affair of John
Petit and tyrannicide also concerned both the power of
the State and the authority of the Church.

Let us briefly recall the facts. On November 23,
1407, the Duke of Orleans fell in a Paris street, killed by
assassins hired by his cousin, the Duke of Burgundy.
John the fearless, " an offender against God as well as

1 Der Sachsenspiegel J ii. a. 14 (Heidelberg, 1848). Huillard-Brj^holles,
Histoire diplom. de Frederic II., iv. 1* pars, p. 198. Clf. Pertz, Leges j ii.
p. 287. J. Havet, Bibl. de V Ecole des Chartes, xli., 1880, p. 488.

331

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

against his own blood and honour," ^ boldly accepted
responsibility for the fait accompli.- He ventured to
plead his cause before King Charles VI., the brother of
his victim, and he committed his defence ^ to his coun-
cillor, John Petit, the Norman (March 8, 1407). The
orator was bold enough to plead the following proposition
amongst several others : " Any subject or vassal who
makes any attempt on the King's health, through
cupidity, fraud, or witchcraft, may be killed as a tyrant
by any other subject, without any command or order.
It is proved by laws natural, moral, and divine." *

In his pedantic elaboration of the subject, the author
sets himself to prove his assertion, alleging twelve
reasons in honour of the twelve apostles. The first
three are drawn from the holy doctors ; the three next
from Aristotle, Cicero, and Boccaccio ; three others from
civil law ; and the three last from Holy Scripture. He
concludes that, " according to his rough and rude under-
standing, our lord the King ought to love more than he
did before my said lord the Duke of Burgundy."

All this defensive display, which was at once immoral
and burlesque, caused more astonishment than
conviction.

This subversive teaching was referred by Gerson to
the judgment of the Bishop of Paris and certain masters

1 Georges Chasteli^in^ recorder of the Duke of Burgundy^ Philip the
Good, CEuvres (1863)^ published by Kervyn de Lettenhove, i. p. 16.

^ Chronic. Karoli VI., xxviii. c. 31. Bibl. Nat., col. of Burgundy, Ivii.
p. m. Nicolas de Baye, Journal, i. 206 ; ii. 294. Cabaret d'Orron-
viLLE, a^Juvres, published by the French Historical Society, p. 206.

3 Of. Kervyn de Lettenhove, Bulletin de VAcademie royale de Belgique,
p. 558, Jean sans Feur et I'apologie du tyrannicide.

* Monstrellet, Chroniques, i. ch. 39. Cf. 0pp. Gersonii, v. col. 27.
Nearly all the 5th vol. of the Ellies-Dupin Ed. is filled with details
of this affair. J. B. Schwab, Joh. Gerson, pp. 449, 609. Bess, Frankreichs
Kirchenpolitik . . . und der Frocess des J. Fetit.

332

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

of theology. The doctors at first condemned seven, and
afterwards nine of John Petit's assertions, and ordered
them to be burnt (February 23, 1414). The King gave
his approval, but the Duke of Burgundy appealed to
Pope John XXIII. On his side, Gerson denounced the
nine articles condemned at the Council of Constance,
(7 June, 1415). Martin Porree, Bishop of Arras, and the
too notorious Peter Cauchon,i vidame of Rheims, were
ordered by the Duke of Burgundy to ask the assembly
for decisions on all these points. The fathers appointed
Zabarella and several other cardinals, with whom they
associated the bishops and doctors of each nation. They
decided not to condemn John Petit by name, and con-
sequently, not the Duke of Burgundy, but they re-
pudiated a proposition cast in general terms, without
naming the author ^ (July 6).

The Cardinal of Cambrai and Gerson later on, wanted
to get from the council a more formal and open con-
demnation of tyrannicide and its apologist.

The Chancellor spoke in the name of the King of France
on May 5, 1416, and showed much eloquence in his
peroration : " I address myself to you, Bishop of Arras,"
he exclaimed, " answer me, or rather I will myself
answer for you. Are you concerned for the temporal
and spiritual salvation of the illustrious Duke of
Burgundy ? Yes, I know you are. Are you anxious
for the safety of his descendants in his hereditary

1 He had shown himself a Cabochian in 1413. He was then counsellor
of the Duke of Burgundy and the University of Paris protected him.
Later on he became the Pope's referendary. His deplorable behaviour in
the affair of Joan of Arc is well known. " He was a one-sided and
dangerous man/^ said a barrister in the parliament of Paris in 1444.
Impartial history might be even more severe without injustice.

' VoN DEB Hardt, iv. p. 489. Hefele, p. 485. Gf. Wicliffe's xviith
proposition condemned at Constance.

BBS

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

domains ? Yes, I do not doubt it. And therefore,
truth, reason and piety are triumphant with you. I
beg you, for your soul's sake, to let them triumph.
Shun the punishment of those who willingly are self-
deceived, a punishment that must fill you with dread
and which you must avoid at all costs." ^

Gerson was everwhelmed with insults and persecutions
because of this speech, and yet he was a good prophet at
the time. Three years afterwards, John of Burgundy
was to fall assassinated on the bridge of Montereau, by
the order and before the eyes of the Dauphin. He who
had smitten with the sword perished with the sword. It
was a case of the law of retaHation : sometimes through
the injustice of men the justice of God is worked out.
Thus events themselves undertook to oppose and to
condemn the propositions of John Petit, which certain
poHtical anxieties had hindered from being anathe-
matised at Constance. Next year, the Dominican, John
of Falkenburg, who had made analogous declarations
with regard to the King of Poland, was also smitten, but
in congregation and not in general session. His book
was committed to the flames.^

More than once, in the course of time, this question was
to come up for fresh discussion. In the middle of the
fifteenth century, the first humanists, imbued with the
examples of classical antiquity, wished to make pagan
civiHsation spring to life again, and to cause what they
called the era of hberty to flourish once more, getting rid
of all whom they called tyrants. What they preached
in theory, they tried to get put into practice. New
Harmodii, and fierce Bruti arose, and took up the

* Propoidtio facta coram Concilio Cojutantiensij 0pp. Gers. , ii. col. 328.
Schwab, p. 626.

^ Van der Hardt, iv. pp. 1091_, 1513. Hefele, xi. p. 68.

334

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

poniard against the Medici, and the Sforzas, and though
it was a still deeper error, against the saintly and learned
Nicholas V.^

The first Protestants welcomed this doctrine, and after
the murder of Charles I. of England, Milton defended
it in several writings against the learned Saumaise. In
Spain, the Jesuit Mariana, breaking away from the
general teaching of the Company, allowed anyone to kill
a tyrant after the formal manifestation of the will of the
people. It is well known, how French parliaments,
infected with GalHcanism, took advantage of this to
attack the Jesuits and Rome itself, whom they made
jointly answerable for such opinions. Later on, appeared
the immortal calumnies of Pascal, and finally the Con-
stitution of 1793 made the same doctrine a dogma of the
revolution. 2

Amidst all these quarrels, the defenders of sound
doctrines made it their duty to recall the reasonable,
energetic, and eloquent protests of d'Ailly and Gerson at
the Council of Constance.

We shall only speak by way of reminder of the
doctrines of the Dominican, Matthew Grabon. He was
author of a pamphlet against the new religious orders,
and claimed that the vow of poverty could only be well
observed in the ancient institutions approved by the
Holy See. The Brethren of the Common Life, partic-
ularly the worthy precursors of our Brothers of Christian
Doctrine, excited his animadversions and inflamed the
ardours of a zeal which was more sincere than
enlightened. " They are excommunicated," he said,
*' and those who favour them are guilty of sin." ^

^ De l'Epinois, Nicholas V and the conspiracy of Stephen Porcari in the
Revue des Questions histor., 1882, 61st no. Pastor, Histoire des Papes, ii.
p. 199.

* Article xxvii. of the Constitution. ^ Hefele, xi. p. 103.

335

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Condemned by d'Ailly and Gerson, this William de
St Amour of the fifteenth century, retracted and abjured
his doctrines, which were more eccentric than really
harmful.^

The Council of Constance also declared against the
Flagellants. These penitents had lost the profoundly
reHgious spirit that had inspired them at the outset.
They had fallen into all the errors of a false mysticism,
and had laid themselves open to the suspicion of many
true believers, who protested in several countries against
their doctrines and practices.

Soon this sect disappeared entirely from the Catholic
world.^

To complete our narrative, a few words must be added
as to the part of the Council in the case of the Bishop of
Strasburg.

William of Diest was a not very commendable prelate
who was in dispute with his chapter and with the magis-
trates of the town, and the latter had cast him into
prison at Molsheim (December S, 1415).^ A commission
of sixteen was appointed to judge the case, which had been
extremely complicated by certain circumstances, and an
embassy was sent to Strasburg. It did not succeed in
getting the Bishop immediately set at liberty. This was

1 Opp. Gersonii, i. col. 407-

2 J. BoiLEAU, Historia Flagellantium, Paris, 1700. Thiers, Critique de
lllistoire des Flagellants, Paris, 1703. Von de Hardt, iii. col. 92. Opp.
Gersonii, iii. col. 660. Fr^d^ricq, Bulletin de PAcademie royale de Belgique,
1903, p. 688.

' Hefele, X. p. 545. ff. ; xi. p. 2 if. Von der Hardt, ii. p. 426 ; iv.
p. 551. Dr H. FiNKE has dealt exhaustively with the subject in his
Forschungen der deutschen Geschichte (Gdttingen, 1883), p. 501. He
remarks on the untrustworthiness of Von der Hardt. Sometimes the
subject announced by the author is not dealt with ; sometimes facts are
badly reported, official documents are not given at their proper dates, and
the narrative becomes unintelligible. All the statements of this annalist
must be verified by comparison with contemporary documents.

336

HERETICS AT CONSTANCE

not done till after June 3, when the chapter and the town
had been excommunicated and the town laid under an
interdict. Finally, the Bishop appeared before the
Council, and the dispute was ended, November 6, 1417,
by a condemnation of the chapter.

It is thus that, in spite of genuine griefs and very
irregular proceedings, the Council gathered at Constance
yet could undertake to defend the rights of the Church
and the interests of the State, striking disturbers of the
peace and the insubordinate, passing sentences that
were just and that history can recognise with respect.
Its part, so far as this is concerned, is unassailable, in
spite of the use of forms of justice which have fallen into
desuetude.

337

CHAPTER XVII

END OF THE SCHISM

During all these grave disputes, the principal work
of the Council went on with varying fortunes. The
heresies were wounded unto death. Schism itself was
about to disappear, thanks to the persevering efforts
of everyone.

When the assembly held its first sessions, it was all
over with the precarious solution, which had been
invented at Pisa, and matters had fallen into the
deplorable state from which that synod had sought
to extricate them by illegal acts. It seemed as if
there were no Pope because there were three, and the
sovereign pontificate was humbled as it had never
been before in the persons of each of the three.

John XXIII., the butt of the proceedings of the
Council and of the King of the Romans, continued
his wretched wanderings through the Germanic
countries, expecting to be thrown into prison by the
Fathers, and then was judged and deposed by them.
Never perhaps had the venerable title of Pontiff been
more exposed to opprobrium and gibes, nor subjected
to more indignity of speech and action. How happy
would it have been for him had he less deserved these
manifold disgraces ! Pius VI. and Pius VII., who
suffered as cruelly, present another appearance in the
eyes of posterity.

888

END OF THE SCHISM

In Italy, with his courtier in misfortune, Charles
of Malatesta, old Gregory XII. preserved his pontifical
functions. He may have given rise to charges of
nepotism, and have committed political errors, and
at one time have seemed to hold too tenaciously to
his supreme position, to which, however, he had been
lawfully appointed. But he could neither be reproached
with disorderly conduct, nor with scandalous obstinacy,
and later on, he knew how to give up the pontifical
throne with a dignity and resignation that rallied every-
body's sympathy to him.

At the foot of the Pyrenees, Benedict maintained
the part which he had been given to play for more
than twenty years. He had always the same stubborn-
ness and tenacity in following out his aim, as well as
the same suppleness and skill in the choice of means.
We get a vivid insight into his character when we see
him struggling single-handed against the Council, the
King of the Romans, the Kings of Aragon, Castile and
Navarre, and further against the peoples of Christian
Europe who had remained under his obedience and
who were not yet represented at Constance. Etiamsi
omnes, non ego, seems to have been his device, in which
there may be some pride, but still more of obstinacy.
Thus it is that he shut himself up henceforth in the
futility of his interested and systematic opposition,
and in the scandal of his schismatic retreat at Peniscola.

§ 1. Deposition of John XXIII.

The fathers of Constance did not hide from them-
selves that, so far as John XXIII. was concerned,
they had committed at least an irregular act in pro-
mulgating the decrees of the fourth and fifth sessions.

339

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

They at once felt the need of justifpng themselves,
which they did by sending to all Christian princes as
well as to the Universities a detailed memorial on the
progress of events at the council, on the Pope's flight,
and also about the negotiations they had entered
into with him. These letters were sent off at the
sixth session (April 17). But the Pontiff had already
quitted Laufenburg for Freiburg in Breisgau, then for
Brisach, a stronghold belonging to Frederic his pro-
tector. Outlawed from the Empire by Sigismund,
the Duke of Austria had seen all his neighbours rise
against him. And because John was not safe at ]
Schaffhausen, Laufenburg and elsewhere, he had *
determined to take flight in his wretchedness anew.

In the same session, which, like all that followed it,
was presided over by the Cardinal of Viviers, the form
of abdication which was to be suggested to the Pope
was adopted.^ Under the influence of momentary
passion, it was drawn up in terms too hard for John's
acceptance. And in fact, when the deputation en-
trusted with these proposals, reached Brisach, the
Pontiff feigned illness and refused them an audience.
Finally, he consented to receive them, but on April |
25, without giving the delegates notice and without
leaving any answer behind him, he left early for
Neuenburg, meaning to go to Avignon by Burgundy.
But his protector, the Duke of Austria, would not allow
him to stay there, and had him brought back to Brisach,
and thence, on the 27th, to Freiburg.

Meanwhile, a skilful negotiator, Duke Louis of
Bavaria, succeeded in obtaining Frederic of Austria's
submission to Sigismund and the Council. Frederic in
turn got John to have an interview with the deputies

1 Hefele, X. p. 410.

340

END OF THE SCHISM

from Constance. The Pope then allowed himself
rather easily to be convinced of the need of resigning
I unconditionally. As he was without resources, support
' or friends, his will appeared to be annihilated. He
promised to resign with no other stipulation this time
than that his competitors should do the same. He
would resign all his powers as soon as the council had
assured him of a suitable indemnification.!

Without taking account of these concessions, the
fathers decided in their seventh session (May 2), that
John XXIII. should be summoned before the Council
with every legal formality, but also with the most
liberal guarantees. The summons was publicly
fastened up over the same KreutzHngen gate, by which
the Pope had fled on the preceding March 20. The
Duke of Austria, who was the Pope's accomplice in
this flight, might have seen this official document
when he returned to Constance to undergo a public
and cruel humiliation in the presence of the King of
the Romans and a crowd of princes and nobles. He
had to beg for pardon, and to place himself entirely,
with his subjects and possessions, at the discretion of
Sigismund, who hardly showed himself generous. On
May 9, 1415, the council sent a deputation to the Pope
to notify him of the summons. John XXIII. com-
plained bitterly of the Fathers, and put off his departure
for Constance from day to day. On May 13, when the
ninth session opened, he had not yet arrived. D'Ailly,
Zabarella and Philaster, whom the Pope had chosen
to defend him, refused to take up this too compromising
office, and a commission of thirteen was appointed to
hear the witnesses for the prosecution.

May 14 was the date of the judgment. The council

^ VoN DER Hardt^ ii. col. 402 ; iv. p. 135. Mansi, xxvii. p. 621.

341

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

in its tenth general session solemnly pronounced a
decree of suspension against John XXIII., and forbade
the faithful to obey him henceforward.^

This grave step was only preparatory to another
still more terrible, the sentence of deposition. Indeed,
the heads of allegations against the unfortunate Pontiff
amounted to not less than seventy-four,^ and their
exaggeration showed the spirit of hatred and vengeance
which inspired the accusers.

The deputies who were bidden to take John XXIII.
his summons to appear, had also received orders to
give him an assurance of his personal safety, and to
bring him back to Constance. They had led him to
Radolfzell, five leagues from the town, and locked him
up in a dungeon, no longer existing, under the guard
of three hundred Hungarian soldiers. There it was
that he was joined by the five cardinals and among
them by d'Ailly, delegated to notify the Pontiff of the
decree of suspension. The accused submitted to
everything and offered his resignation. " If they depose
me," he added, " I shall offer no resistance. I only
ask to be allowed to safeguard my honour, my person,
and my rank." Then, he signed the report with his
Christian name " Balthazar." ^

At last, on May 29, at the twelfth general session, in
the presence of the King of the Romans and of fifteen
cardinals, John was solemnly deposed. The decree was
very hard on the accused, and condemend him " as
guilty of simony, a dissipator of the goods of the Chiu-ch,
and an unfaithful administrator of the Church, both in
things spiritual and temporal." It also roughly criti-

^ Hardouin, viii. p. 324. Mansi, xxvii. p. 655,

2 VoN DEB Habdt, oiily gives 70 (iv. p. 196). They were afterwards
reduced to 54. Cf. Hefele,pp. 427 and 438. Bibl. Nat., MS. lat. 9513.
2 Mansi, xxvii. p. 681. Von deb Habdt, p. 210 ff.

342

END OF THE SCHISM

cised his conduct, which it quahfied as a scandal to

Christendom. Therefore the holy Council released all

the faitful from their oath of obedience to John XXIII.,

and forbade them to call him Pope any more. It

further ordered that he was to be placed in safe con-

I finement under the supervision of Sigismund. Finally,

' the fathers decided that neither Balthazar Cossa,

Angelo Corrario, nor Peter de Luna, should be capable

p of being raised to the pontifical seat in the future.^

The Bishop of Arras read this weighty act in the
presence of the council, and each father answered :
placet. The pontifical seal was broken with a jeweller's
hammer and the arms of John XXIII. were destroyed.
It was the counterpart, perhaps the penalty, of the
severe judgment passed upon Gregory XII. and
Benedict XIII. by the Council of Pisa, on June 5, 1409,
under the influence of Balthazar Cossa. Does not
Providence sometimes smite with the law of retahation ?
A deputation went to notify the Pope of his final con-
demnation on May 31. It came to Radolfzell. John
gave it a suitable reception, and ratified the sentence
without making any opposition. He submitted in
advance to all the further decisions of the fathers and
threw himself upon their clemency.

On June 3, he was transferred to the other side of the
Rhine to the very castle of Gottheben, which John Huss
had just left. The Count Palatine, Louis of Bavaria, a
personal friend of Gregory XII., undertook to watch
over him. Soon he found that this prison was not safe
enough, and had the Pontiff taken to his Heidelberg
residence, and then to Mannheim, where he made his
captivity still more strict.

1 VoN DER Hardt, iv. p. 281. Mansi, xxvii. p. 715, Hardouin, viii.
376. Journal de Philastre, p. 177.

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

The unfortunate prisoner passed his time in making
Latin verse on the instabihty of human affairs. Louis
kept him thus a prisoner, until in 1418 ; but at that date,
he got entangled in a dispute with Sigismund, and set
the Pontiff free in return for a ransom of 30,000 golden
florins.

The work of Pisa, was thus brought to nought by the
humiliating fall of John XXIII. He lived yet long
enough to recognise Martin V. as the true Pope at
Florence, and to protest that he intended to live and die
in his allegiance. The new Pontiff was so touched at
this, that he gave him the first place in the Sacred
College with the title of Cardinal-bishop of Tusculum.^
Cossa died in December 1419, after profiting by the rude
lessons of adversity. His tomb is in the celebrated
baptistry of Florence. It bears this brief and strikingly
simple inscription: Here lies the body of Balthazar
Cossa, who was Pope. " This tomb," says Gregorovius,
'' is a memorial monument of the great Schism : it is
the last raised to a Roman Pontiff outside Rome." '^

§ 2. Abdication of Gregory XII.

While these events were taking place at Constance,
and in its neighbourhood, Pope Gregory continued to
reign in the town of Rimini, under the protection of the
chivalrous Malatesta, lord of the town and governor of
the Romagna for the Holy See. He was then aged 89,
and, in spite of the baneful influence of his nephews,
Antony and Paul Corrario, he secretly yearned for the

^ Von der Hardt, iv. p. 1497. Mansi, xxvii. p. 1172. Hardouin,
viii. cols. 834, 871.

2 Gregorovius, Grabmdler, p. 84.

S44

END OF THE SCHISM

peace of the Church. Nevertheless, with regard to the
future council, his first idea was a mixture of distrust
and aversion. He had not wished to go to Constance,
in spite of the entreaties and promises of Sigismund.
Balthazar Cossa had always been an object of horror to
him. He looked upon him as the principal cause of the
defection of his cardinals, and called him " a worker of
iniquity, and son of perdition." ^

In the letters he wrote to Louis of Bavaria, he spoke
of this freely. Louis indignantly repudiated the Council
of Pisa, and added : '' May it please God not to let the
Council of Constance bring down upon us still graver
evils. We should expect more from the King of the
Romans." -

Two months later, Gregory complains of the " sacri-
legious conciliabule," writing to the same correspondent.
He recommends him to oppose this detestable assembly,
and to avoid it like the pest.^

About the same time. Cardinal John Dominici, who
had been negotiating secretly for two years with the King
of the Romans,* sent Sigismund some theological
remarks about papal power and the indisputable rights
of Gregory. He notified him at the same time of the
Pontiff's feelings, who was ready to lay down the tiara,
if his two rivals would do the same.^

Later on, Gregory was glad to be represented at the
Council of Constance by the same venerable Cardinal,
who was also Archbishop of Ragusa. The latter betook
himself to the conciHar city. Over the doorway of the

1 Hefele, X. p. 311.

^ Letter of Feb. 21 ;, 1414. Of. Finke, Acta Concilii Constant., p. 268.
VoN DER Hardt, ii. col. 467.

3 FiNKE, letter of April 7 ; Ibid., p. 270.

4 Cf. Nandonnet, Histor. Jahrhuch, 1903^ p. 392.
" FiNKE, p. 272.

345

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Augustinian convent, an abode which had been assigned
to him by the magistrates of the town, he had the arms
of Gregory XII., whose plenipotentiary he was, set up.
They were taken away on a November night.^ John
protested energetically, and this incident formed the
subject of all conversations in Constance during several
days. The arms were not allowed to be restored before
the arrival of Gregory, who was always expected to
appear in person.

The Pope, however, was not slow in changing his
mind. He had always a deep love of the Church, and
the time had come to show it otherwise than by word
only. On March 15, 1415, he sent Sigismund a bull,
wherein he named his dear son Charles de Malatesta his
procurator to the prince, and bade him renounce really
and actually in his name all right, title and possession
of the papacy.^

When this bull reached Constance, on May IS, they
also received a letter from Malatesta, dated from Brixen
and addressed to the nations, wherein the governor of
the Romagnas made excuses for being delayed and said
that he would soon arrive.^

Two days later, a bull from Gregory intended for the
Cardinal of St Sixtus was read at the Council. Therein
the Pontiff declared his intention of renouncing the tiara
and agreed to acknowledge the Council in so far as its
summons had been made in Sigismund's name. He
would not listen to any mention of Balthazar Cossa, as he
called him ; and laid it down as essential that the latter
should not preside over the Council or even be present
at it.^

^ Mansi, xxvii. p. 540. Lenfant, Histoire du Concile de Con.stance, i.
p. 36.

2 The text of this remarkable bull is to be found in Finke, p. 270.

3 VoN DEB Habdt, iv. p. 177- * Ibid., p 192.

346

END OF THE SCHISM

It must be acknowledged that Gregory carried through
the business of his resignation with a logic, a spirit of
continuity and a dignity, which contrasted strangely
with the procedure of John XXIII. On June 15,
Charles of Malatesta, furnished with full powers, made
his solemn entry into the city of Constance, where he was
magnificently received by the King of the Romans and
the prelates. 1

He first of all declared to Sigismund that he had been
sent to him, and not to a Council that the Pope had
neither summoned nor acknowledged.

After several preliminary negotiations came the great
day of the fourteenth general session, July 4, 1415.^ All
the Fathers were present as well as the King and his
court to attend the almost unheard of spectacle of the
resignation of a Pope. The bulls that had been read,
showed all Gregory's greatness of soul, which, combined
with his correctness of attitude, called forth general and
respectful admiration. In everything he acted as a
legitimate Pontiff, and had his conditions accepted.

First of all, the bull was published which appointed
Charles of Malatesta and Cardinal Dominici of Ragusa,^
as his proxies. Then the Cardinal himself read the
summons of the Council, a document, the skill and im-
portance of which are obvious to everyone. Gregory
held to the logic of his position. He was faithful to

1 VoN DER Hardt, p. 841.

2 Ibid., p. 346.

^ Abbe Christophe seems very hard upon this saintly and worthy arch-
bishop^ (Histoire de la Papaute au XIV' siecle, iii. p. 275). He accuses him
of flattery and obsequiousness: '^ He is/' he adds_, '^'^one of those feeble
beings who cannot be faithful to a conviction, who are carried away by
circumstances and seduced by preferments." This summary judgment
seems full of injustice. John was the friend of St Antoninus and pro-
claimed " Blessed " by Gregory XVI. Nothing he did gives any founda-
tion to the criticisms of this writer who is usually more happily inspired.

347

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

what he owed to himself, and to what he owed to his
supporters.

" I convoke this holy council," solemnly said the papal
mandatory, " and I authorise and confirm all that it may
do henceforward, omnia per ipsum agenda.''' ^

This manner of procedure and of speech gave rise to no
objection, and yet did not this acceptance seem to prove
an implicit recognition of the lawfulness of the Pontiff
and of his predecessors. Innocent, Boniface and Urban ?
Gregory XII., gave no approval to anything that had
been done at the preceding sessions of the Synod of
Constance. He declared that he recognised this
assembly as henceforth legitimate and ecumenical, in
order to make union possible, reform effective and
heresy vanish.

Immediately the Council declared that the supporters
of Gregory XII., were fully reconciled with those of
John XXIII., and only formed one body, and that all
the censures pronounced at the time of the Schism
against one side or the other were revoked.

The venerable Cardinal of Ragusa then wished to
become a simple bishop, but the Sacred College would
not aUow it. In order to affirm the fusion of the two
obediences still more, John received the brotherly
embraces of the cardinals who were his equals and
immediately took his seat in their midst.

The Synod was thus regularly constituted in the eyes
of aU. Malatesta proclaimed the full powers he had
received from Gregory XII., to renounce the papacy
in his name. " Does the assembly," he asked, " think
it more opportune to receive the Pope's abdication
before the departure of the King of the Romans for

^ Von der Hardt, ioc. cit. Mansi, xxvii. p. 730 ff. Hardouin, viii. p.
384.

348

END OF THE SCHISM

Nice ? Or would it rather defer the ceremony until it
has taken cognisance of Benedict's intentions ? " Sigis-
mund had been induced to go to Nice to confer with the
King of Aragon and the Pope of Avignon. The council
decided for immediate renunciation.

The Prince of Rimini pronounced the formal resigna-
tion in a few words then and there, and gave a written
copy of the act to the assembly. They chanted the
Te Deum, and Malatesta, whose pious efforts had con-
tributed so much to such a happy result, received the
solemn thanks of the whole meeting.^

Tlie fathers hastened to announce the voluntary
resignation of Gregory to the towns of his obedience,
and at the same time informed them of the deposition of
John XXIII. The venerable Gregory was appointed
Bishop of Porto and perpetual legate at Ancona. He
took care to renew the testimony of his perfect submission
to the Council, and to express his gratitude for the
respectful regard which had been shown towards him.

He died at Recanati, not far from Ancona, on October
18, 1417, without being able to pay his respects to his
legitimate successor, Martin V.^

His last words were these : " I knew nothing of the
world, and the world knew nothing of me." He still
Hes at rest in Recanati Cathedral, amidst the land of the
Marches and the Romagnas, which was always faithful
to him. Thus this line of pontiffs came to an end. Its
rights ran back to Urban VI., and for thirty-two years it
had occupied the pontifical throne.

1 VoN DER Habdt, iv. p. 341-380. Mansi and Hardouin, loc. cit.
HefelEj X. p. 486.

2 VoN DER HardTj ii. col. 470.

349

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

§ 3. Decadence of Benedict XIII,

While Gregory XII. was thus giving way honourably
with the most praiseworthy resignation, Benedict was
isolating himself more and more in his scandalous
obstinacy, and, forsaken by all, seemed to boast of the
unpopularity attaching to his name.

We have said that the King of the Romans was
preparing to leave for Nice in order to meet the obstinate
old man and to obtain his abdication. Peter de Luna
and his supporters, whom the memoirs of the time
called Lunatici, were henceforth the sole obstacles to
the peace of the Church. Sigismund left Constance on
July 18, 1415, accompanied by sixteen delegates chosen
by the fathers,^ and by four thousand horsemen, and
provided with all the authentic documents proving the
renunciation of Gregory XII.

He had taken every precaution to ensure that the
deHberations of the Council should be undisturbed
during his absence.

While he is on his way to the South of France by Basle,
Lausanne, Chambery, Lyons, Vienne, and Valence
(August 5), let us see what Benedict is doing now that
French troops have compelled his soldiers to leave
Avignon. The activity of this old man of eighty
continued as great as his stubbornness. From Morella,
which he had chosen as a retreat in the kingdom of
Aragon, he maintained the best of relations with King
Ferdinand, and through him with the Queen of Castile.

^ Von deb Habdt_, iv. p. 264. De Dynter, Chronica ducum Brabantiae
(Ed. Ram.), iii. p. 279. Clf. Bulletin d'histoire eccl. et. d'archeol. de
Valence, v. p. 127, 1884. Aschbach, Begesten u. Itinerar des romischen
Koniga Sigmund von 1. Juli 1414 his Schluss des Jahres 1419. Fbomme,
Die spanische Nation und das konstanzer Konzil, p. 8. Ant. Mobosini,
Chronique, French Historical Society, 1889, ii. pp. 36, 56, and 86.

350

END OF THE SCHISM

Both of them were guided solely by his advice in Church
affairs.^ He intrigued in Italy with Jane of Naples and
her brother Ladislas, then Cossa's enemy .^ He even
tried to maintain correspondents in Rome, and to draw
over Soriano, the city prefect, to his side, and to weaken
the fidelity of the Cardinal of St Eustache, John XXIII. 's
vicar. His agents were commissioned to explain to the
Romans, who were ruined by the Pope's absence,
Benedict's keen desire to bring the curia back to the
Eternal City, and the efforts he had made and the
expenses he had incurred for that end ^ (October 1414).
In all remaining documents of this date the Pope of
Avignon displays all his animosity against what he calls
the conventicle of Pisa, against its promoters, " hated of
God," and against " the idol they have made." He
hopes for the revision of this great suit and for the final
admission of his rights. At the same time he protests
his zeal for unity, setting forth the means he intends to
use to secure it. Benedict agrees in accepting the town
of Nice as a meeting-place with the King of the Romans
in the month of June, and takes every possible precaution
against surprise.^ But he refuses to go to Constance, and
does not believe that this new conventicle " will have the
good fortune to do anything pleasing to God."^ On
his side, Ferdinand appoints his proxies for the Constance
assembly, which, however, he will not recognise as a
general council. He protests beforehand against any
decisions it may take to Benedict's disadvantage, since

1 FiNKE, i. p. 310 ff.

2 Ibid., p. 312. Valois, p. 334.

3 Ibid. , p. 316. These hitherto unpublished documents are taken either
from the Archives of the Crown at Barcelona, or from the Archives of the
Vatican. Cf. Hefele, x. p. 542.

* FiNKE, p. 330 ff.
*/6i<i.,p. 833.

351

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

he is "a Pope certainly and without doubt," he says
(October 1, 1414).

The representatives of the Pontiff and of the King of i
Aragon arrived at Constance, and on March 4 they '
begged Sigismund to go to Nice as quickly as possible to
be present at the proposed conference.^

Benedict XIII. flattered himself that his rights would
be recognised there, though he was almost alone in
thinking them unassailable. Moreover, everything con-
tinued to maintain the Pope in his incorrigible delusions.
He was told that the greatest nobles of France would
entreat King Charles to declare in his favour afresh."^
He heard from Paris that, despite certain indications
to the contrary, John XXIII. would have nothing to do \
with the Council of Constance, of which he dreaded
the results for himself, and that his cardinals and friends
were ready to abandon it. His correspondent, John
Humbert, a clerk of the island of Majorca, and a student
of the University, also gave him information as to the
state of mind of the French Court, the masters and pupils
of the Alma Mater, and strengthened in the Pope's
heart hopes which a near future would show to be vain.^

Some time before the meeting-place had been changed
and it was decided to meet at Perpignan, then belonging
to the kingdom of Aragon. Benedict had come there
in the month of June in accordance with previous
arrangements. When he saw that Sigismund did not
come, he left Perpignan precisely at midnight on the last
day of June, and declared that the King of the Romans
was as contumacious as a criminal who does not answer
to his summons. Here is but one more proof of the
intractable character of the Pope of Avignon, whose

^ Lenfant, Hutoire du Concile de Constance, p. 62.
^ FiNKE, p. 311. Valois, p. 338. 3 j^j^,^ p^ 343,

362

END OF THE SCHISM

pretensions increase inversely in proportion to his
power.

Sigismund, however, arrived at Narbonne on August
15, and on the 19th was at Perpignan, where he met
the King of Aragon, whose traveUing had been hindered
by illness. What is the use of relating what took place
at these conferences ? The old man showed that he
was like himself, and as we have already seen him on
several occasions. He made complaints as to points
of etiquette and form of summons, made exaggerated
and unacceptable proposals to the King, demanded
the cancelling of the sentences pronounced at Pisa, pro-
posed to appoint arbitration commissions for the election
of the new Pope, etc.^ . . . Subterfuges, delays, complain-
ing susceptibilities, shifts worthy of an artful attorney,
but where no generosity can be discerned, no greatness
of spirit, and no pity for the Church in her distress.

The King of the Romans asked for resignation pure
and simple, a step which had been so often and so vainly
demanded.^ Benedict persisted in his dilatory ex-
pedients. Sigismund and the envoys from Constance
acted hastily and left Perpignan.^ At the beginning
of November all seemed to be broken off. Ferdinand,
already ill, was despairing ; and other so^^ereigns, till
then attached to Benedict, made no secret of their
annoyance. They wrote to the King of the Romans
to beg him to delay his departure. " We are deter-
mined to leave Benedict," they said to him, "if he
persists with his insensate resistance." *

^ Mansi, xxviii, p. 1111. Mabtj^ne et Duband, Thesaurus , ii. p. 1684.

2 Of. Chapter vii. of this volume.

^ ToLBA DE BoBDAS, V AnUpape Benoit XIII. en Roussillon, p. 29.

* Dollinger has published two letters of the King of Aragon and King of
the Romans on this question. Cf. Materialien zur Gesch. des 15. und 16.
Jahr., ii. p. 378.

z 353

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Sigismund agreed to send envoys to Perpignan
afresh, but he maintained his proposals : he must
resign at all costs. Benedict saw that the King would
not yield, and fled on November IS to CoUioure. He
only stayed there three days, and then betook himself to
the castle of Pensicola, situated on the sea to the north
of Valencia. A few cardinals followed him to this
sohtary dungeon belonging to his family, and formerly
illustrious with the exploits of the Cid. On entering
this refuge, the fugitive fired a threat of anathema
and deposition like a Parthian arrow against the kings
who wished to withdraw from his obedience. All the
princes who had been thus defied met at Narbonne,
and, in accord with Sigismund, concluded a celebrated
concordat (December 13, 1415).

According to the tenor of this document, the cardinals
and prelates met at Constance were to invite their
colleagues, who had hitherto remained faithful to
Benedict, to join them within three months, in order
to make a truly general council. They undertook
to do nothing prejudicial to the interests of the princes,
bishops, and officers who had been attached to the
Pope of Avignon. They would proceed to depose this
Pontiff, and then to the election of a new Pope, with
the concurrence of the cardinals of Benedict. The
Council would annul all sentences which had been
pronounced during the Schism, and ratify all favours
accorded by the deposed Pope.^

The assembly took several other resolutions as to
details, and then Sigismund, the envoys of the Spanish
kings, and the Archbishop of Rheims representing

^ Mansi, xxvii. p. 811, and xxviii. p. 224. Von der Habdt,
ii. col. 487. Hardouin, viii. p. 473. Labbe, xii. c. 177. Valois,
p. 347.

354

END OF THE SCHISM

France, solemnly swore to observe all the articles.
The delegates of the council took the same oath.

From December 14, the King of the Romans informed
the Council of the concordat that he had just signed,
then he came to spend the feast of Christmas at Avignon,
and betook himself to Paris, where he made his solemn
entry on March 1, 1416. Thence he went to England,
and afterwards returned by Zealand, Holland, Germany,
and Cologne. He returned to Constance in great state
on Wednesday, January 27, 1417, after winning over
to the work of the Council, to religious peace and a future
crusade, all the sympathy of all sovereigns and peoples.^

Nearly a year before, on January SO, 1416, a detailed
report of the Narbonne concordat had reached Constance
and caused general joy there. The treaty was immedi-
ately ratified in general assembly.

Thanks to the energetic efforts of Vincent Ferrier
and to his renown for sanctity, Aragon (January 6,
1416), Castile (January 15), Navarre (July 16), and the
county of Foix (August 3) threw over their obedience'^
to Benedict. The wonder-worker, so long and so
genuinely attached to the Pontiff, himself declared
at Perpignan, though much against the grain, the
withdrawal of obedience, and read the skilful and firm
declaration of the King of Aragon from the pulpit.^

Several times the Council declared the Pope of
Avignon rebellious and contumacious, and then, in
the thirty-seventh session, it proclaimed his irretrievable
fall as an incorrigible and notorious heretic and schis-
matic (July 26, 1417).^

^ MoRosiNi's Chronicle, ii. p, 122.

2 P. Fages, Histoire de St Vincent Ferrier, ii. pp. 118, 141. Fromme,
pp. 12, 13.

3 VoN DEB Hardt, iv. pp. 1128, 1314, 1134, 1374. Hefele, xi. p. 32.

355

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

The stubborn Peter de Luna dwelt seven years more
near the sea on the bare and impregnable rock of
Pensicola. This new sort of stylite only had under his
obedience a few servants and soldiers, but his mis-
fortunes had in no way abated his pride. When almost
a centenarian, he still replied, in striking his throne,
to the ambassadors from Constance : " All mankind
was in the ark with Noah : all the Church is with me
on the rock of Pensicola." ^ He cherished an implacable
hatred against the Council and Ferdinand. Every day
he had a sentence of excommunication pronounced
against the then dying King. Benedict died on
November 24, 1422,^ but he made the three cardinals
around him swear to give him a successor. This
phantom succeeding a phantom was a canon named
Gil Munoz. He took the name of Clement VIII.
(June 10, 1423). This very doubtful election was
even disputed by a fourth cardinal, named John Carrier,
then besieged in the castle of Tourene in Rouergue,
another Pensicola. This cardinal, who considered that
the whole Sacred College consisted in himself, secretly
elected one named Bernard Garnier, sacristan of Rodez,
who took the name of Benedict XIV.^

This new Benedict was excommunicated by Martin
v., as well as his protector. Count d'Armagnac. The
latter once applied to Joan of Arc to ask her who was
the true Pope, but she only gave him an evasive answer.^

Meanwhile, the Pope of Pensicola, Clement VIII.,
was reconciled to Martin V. in 1429. Bernard Garnier,

1 Hepele, p. 21. Mansi, xxviii. col. 263. Hardouin, viii. col. 827.
BossuET^ De/ensio declarationis , ii. lib. v. c. 24.

2 Cf. Valois, iv. p. 450.

3 Valois, pp. 458, 475. Mart^ne et Durand, Thesaurus, ii. col. 1738 fF.
Pastor, i. p. 282.

* J. QuicHERAr, Proces de Jeanne d'Arc, i. p. 243 flF.

356

END OF THE SCHISM

the false Benedict XIV., died after winning some
supporters in the south. John Carrier then took his
place and his name, refused to retract, and ended his
days in prison in 1433, at the castle of Foix. These
pontiffs of Pensicola and elsewhere did not even get
what Balthasar Cossa obtained, a dole of pity. Thus,
in open rebellion, in impotence, in ridicule and shame
vanished the great Schism of the West.

Providence has fixed a strange gradation between
the three Pontiffs who were then disputing for the tiara.

Gregory XII., a true Pope in spite of his deposition
proclaimed at Pisa, leaves the pontifical throne with
calm majesty and resigns his functions into the hand
of the Council with dignity.

John XXIII., the successor of Alexander V., the
elect of Pisa, is condemned and deplored by the assembly
of Constance, and is at any rate to be honoured for his
resignation and repentance.

Benedict XIII., sprung out of Schism, and know-
ingly perpetuating the fatal division, remains obstinate
till death, and is stigmatised in history as an Anti-
pope. After having held his own against five Pontiffs,
all more legitimate than himself, against two councils,
two emperors, and ten others sovereigns, he dies ex-
communicated and excommunicating.^

These events, guided by the hand of God, have made
a clean sweep. All rivals have disappeared, and now
a new election, which shall give peace to the Christian
world, can be proceeded with without any hindrance.

^'*^Observas in Joanne XXIII. miserabile spectaculum^ in Gregorio
XII., mirabile factum, in Benedicto XIII. lacrymabile exemplum, et in
electo Papa Martino admirabile negotium." Von der Habdt, iv. 1586.

357

CHAPTER XVIII

THE END OF THE COUNCIL

§ 1. The Question of Reform,

BossuET begins his Histoire des Variations with these
words : " For several centuries the reformation of
ecclesiastical discipline had been wished for. ... St
Bernard had incessantly warned nations, clergy, bishops,
and even Popes of the need of it. He did not shrink from
also warning the religious, who like him were distressed
about it in their solitude. . . . Since then abuses had
increased. The Roman Church, the mother of Churches,
was not free from evil, and from the time of the Council
of Vienne, a great bishop laid it down as the foundation
of the work of this holy assembly, that the Church
needed reform in both head and members. The Great
Schism put this word more than ever in the mouth, not
only of certain doctors like Gerson and Peter d'Ailly, but
also of councils, and the Councils of Pisa and Constance
arefuUofit!"^

But the great doctor of the Church of France is speak-
ing of the true reformation, and not of that which is
brought about by schismatical rebellion and outbursts of
passionate invective. He speaks of that which is worked
in the Church by the Church and by the authorities
lawfully established by Jesus Christ. Lastly, Bossuet

1 Histoire des- Variations- , i. ch. i.

358

THE END OF THE COUNCIL

shows by terrible examples what " reform in a crooked
sense can do with obstinate minds." ^

This pacific revolution, so generally desired, was about
to be inaugurated in an effective way. But there were
difficult obstacles to be overcome within the Council
itself : these were the manifold divisions which reigned
in it. The vexatious dogmatic discussions of 1415 about
the pre-eminence of the Council over the Pope had left
more than one mark on the assembly. The pontifical
seat was vacant, and several asked whether it was not
the time to give definite shape to this superiority, in
order to make general councils more frequent, and to
increase and regularise their power. They claimed to
organise them as a permanent and essential institution,
to set up a sort of spiritual parliament which should
meet at fixed times, and to which sovereigns should send
their ambassadors, substituting a constitutional
oHgarchy for a monarchy that was certainly elective, but
absolute. They aimed at nothing less than changing
the form of the Church, giving it up to the play of parties,
and risking all the useful advance that had been made by
the Papacy for three centuries.

In another direction the Sacred College had aroused
bitter hostility against itself. Its conduct in the pre-
ceding pontifical elections and throughout the agitation
of the Schism had given rise to much fault-finding and
to reproaches, some of which were well founded.

The Christian people, the monks, and the lower clergy
rightly attributed to the intrigues and antipathies of the
cardinals the long division which had inflicted so much
harm on ecclesiastical discipline and on the Church
herself. But, at the close of the Council, dissension
reigned in the Sacred College, and several bishops,

1 Cinquieme avertissement aux Protestants, xxxv.

359

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

struck with these scandals, loudly demanded the ex-
clusion of the cardinals from the conclave that was about
to open. They dared to go even further, and to call for
the aboHtion of this ecclesiastical institution. D'Ailly
had declared long before that the body of cardinals also
urgently needed reform.^ In fact, they only escaped
from all these exaggerated demands by suppleness and
diplomatic skill.

Furthermore, some French prelates were eager to
deprive the Pope of the privilege which gave him almost
exclusive patronage of benefices. On the other hand,
the University men preferred that this right should be
retained by the Pontiff, because they placed their more
special interests before everything else. They wished
to see their names still fiUing the Rotuli presented to the
Pope. From then it was difficult for the members of
the University to call for a reduction of pontifical
privileges, to which they were often glad to have re-
course. The bishops also energetically pressed for a
diminution or for the extinction of annates, reservations,
expectations, and all the contributions that the Roman
Pontiff had the right of levying on the whole Church.

Certain German deputies were still more radical in
their demands, and more violent in their reproaches.
They attacked not only pontifical privileges, but even
the Pope himself. " For about a hundred and fifty
years," they write, " certain Popes have not sufficiently
respected the rights of other Churches and benefices of
the clergy. They have granted commendams, multi-
pHed expectations, and stripped the dead. . . . Councils
have not been summoned, and hence ambition, avarice,

^ P. i>'AiLLY, De reforniatione Ecclesiae, 0pp. Gersonii, ii. col. 906. The
Cardinal of Cambrai had come to the Council full of anti-papal prejudices
and plans of reform. He was obliged to give up a large number of these
ideas, and to recognise their impracticability.

360

THE END OF THE COUNCIL

heresy, simony, and schisms have raged in the Chm*ch.
So let us take advantage of the vacancy in the Holy See
to purify it of all its stains. Otherwise the newly elect,
however virtuous he may be, will necessarily get some
taint." 1

The Germans then pressed for priority to be given to
the consideration of reform. Some cardinals were of the
same opinion, and the King of the Romans was especially
strong on their side.^ A general commission had been
appointed in 1415, and already many projects of reform
had come before it for discussion. On the other hand,
the Itahans, the French, and the Spaniards demanded
a new Pope before everything else, and energetically
protested against all the delays put in the way of his
election. " The most urgent reform," said they, " and
the one that is immediately pressing, is to get rid of the
anomaly of a Church without a head. Let us then make
haste to elect a Pope ! "

If, to all these causes of discord, questions of precedence
and patriotic quarrels be added, the incessant conflicts
between Castilians and the people of Aragon, between
EngHsh and French,^ between the Amagnacs, and the
Bourguignons, even between Sigismund and the
cardinals, it will be seen how deeply disturbed the
Council was on the eve of the important decisions that
remained to be taken.

" It is verily a tower of Babel," says a historian. " At
Constance, as many different tongues are spoken, as

^ Von der Hardt, iv. p. 1419. HardouiNj viii. col. 862.

2 At Trentj Charles V. and the secular princes put forth the same pre-
tensions later on. In a conciliatory spirit the fathers decided to take in
hand dogmatic definitions and reform simultaneously. Of. Baguenault
DE PucHEssE, Histoire du Concile de Trente, Paris, 1870, p. 49.

2 Frosime, Die spanische Nation und das Konstanzer Konzil, chaps, ii.
and iii.

361

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

many contradictory opinions are shown, as there are
representatives of various nations to be met with." ^

In the meantime an EngHsh bishop, Henry of
Winchester, uncle of King Henry V., arrived at Con-
stance. He intervened in all these quarrels, succeeded in
pacifying Sigismund, in calming the minds of the fathers,
and had an agreement drawn up as to the following
three points : I. A conciliar decree was to be carried
that, immediately after the election of the Pope, the
question of Church Reform should be seriously taken in
hand. II. Before the election the reforming decrees, as
to which all nations were agreed, should be promulgated.
III. The mode of election should be settled by special
commissaries. 2

Of these three resolutions, the second was immediately
carried out, and the five following decrees were pro-
mulgated at the thirty-ninth general session (October 9,
1417) :—

I. General councils shall meet every ten years.
Before the close of the first, the Pope, with the consent
of the fathers, shall name the place of the next meeting.
Such is a summary and the exact meaning of the decree
Frequens, so often quoted since at schismatic con-
venticles like that of Basle, and in suspicious Pragmatical
Sanctions hke that of Bourges (July 7, 1438).^

1 Caro, Das Bundniss von Canterbury, Gotha, 1880, p. 5.

2 VoN DER Hari>t_, iv. p. 1447-

* As to the Council of Basle, cf. Hefele, xi. p. 188 if. As to the
Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, Ibid., p. 48(5. Modern writers have also
demanded the periodical holding of general councils, and have wished to
make them a permanent instrument of the life and authority of the
C'hurch. See Mgr. Maret, Du Concile general et de la paix religieuse, ii.
p. 414, and the article of the Corre-spondant published on the eve of the
Vatican Council by M. Cochin (October 10, 1869). Cf. Em. Ollivier,
Vigliae et t^tat au Concile du Vatican, ii. p. 73. See too Bossuet,
Defendo declar. cleri gallicani, p. i. lib. v. c. 10.

362

THE END OF THE COUNCIL

II. In order henceforward to forestall all danger of
Schism, in the event of two or more pretenders to the
Papacy, a council should assemble ex-officio within a
year to settle the difference. All prelates shall be bound
to be present without further summons.

III. Each Pope, before election is published, shall be
obliged to place a profession of the Catholic faith in the
hands of his electors. The Council gives the form.

IV. Translations of prelates from one see to another
shall not take place without the consent of those con-
cerned. The Pope must give up his right to successions
and procurations. Alexander V. had already consented
to this.

V. Certain reservations of procurations that came to
the visitor-bishops, and the right of spoils shall be justly
done away with.^

Without entering into detail as to these regulations, it
is clear that most of them spring from questionable law,
and are animated with a spirit of mistrust of the supreme
Pontiff. The prelates are taking precautions against
future Popes. Another decree shows the same anxieties
and requires the new Pope, in concert with the members
of the Council and of the nations, to settle on reforms
which are to apply, not only to the Roman curia, but
also to the future head of the Church.

§ 2. Election of Martin V.

Finally, the fathers resolved to settle the question
that took precedence of all others, the election of a new
Pope. How should this conclave be proceeded with,

1 Cf. HuBLER, Die konstanzer lieformation, p. 23. Hefele, xi. p. 41.
BossuET, Ibid., c. 17.

363

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

which was to meet in such extraordinary circumstances ?
Who would be the electors ? Who would be the elect ?

In consequence of the distrust shown towards the
cardinals, the Council did not wish them to be allowed
to take part in the election of the Pope by themselves.
To the twenty-three members of the Sacred College
were added for this time only thirty other prelates,
six from each nation.^ This decision, which was new
to canon law, was taken on October 30, 1417, at the
fortieth solemn assembly. ^ D'Ailly had already
counselled this in his sermon at Whitsuntide (May 30).
The King of the Romans had had the vast warehouse,
which can still be visited on the banks of Lake Constance,
prepared for the conclave. He had chosen the guards
among the most illustrious princes of all nations ;
he had made them take an oath in his presence, and
had forbidden the people to pillage the house of the
elect. Finally, on November 8, the fifty-three electors
went into conclave, and before Sigismund took an oath
to choose a virtuous prelate who should be capable of
reforming the Church. The doors were then shut and
soldiers guarded all the exits.

Next day work began amidst prayers and exhorta-
tions. Daily a solemn procession left Constance
Cathedral, and filed through the hall of the conclave,
reciting the Veni sancte spiritus. Six candidates were
at first to the front, and then there remained only four.
At last, after long discussions, just when the King of
the Romans, the princes, and the clergy were passing

^ 'Jlie two chief deputies for France were William de Boisratier, Arch-
bishop of Bourges, and James Gelu, Archbishop of Tours.

^ Modiui eligendi summum Pontificem. Cf. Tractatus et Sermonef,
Strasburg, 141K). Von deb Hardt_, ii. p. 686 ; iv. p. 1452. (y. Fbomme,
Die Wahl Martins V., in the Romische Q^artaUchrift , x. pp. 133-161
(1896).

364

THE END OF THE COUNCIL

beneath the conclave windows in procession, all votes
fell unanimously to Odo Colonna, cardinal deacon of
Saint George, who took the name of Martin V.
(November 11).

The new Pontiff was forty-two years of age. He
belonged to the noble Roman family of Colonnas, whose
connections were GhibeHne, and who had been so long
hostile to the Orsinis. It had already provided the
Church with twenty-seven cardinals, but Martin V.
was the first of his race to ascend the see of St Peter. ^
The learned had a high appreciation of his deep know-
ledge of canon law ; and the simple folk revered him
as a kindly, peaceful, and modest prelate, who was
independent of partisan intrigue and compromise.
At the first news of his election, crowds rushed headlong
to the place of the conclave, and displayed a joy that
was soon shared by the whole Church. Sigismund
also came up himself and congratulated the electors,
and kissed the foot of the newly elect. Pope Martin
embraced the King and thanked him for having so
powerfully contributed to the maintenance of unity
and peace.

In the evening, at the solemn procession, Sigismund
and the Elector Palatine led the Pontiff's charger by
the bridle as far as the cathedral, and then Martin V.
went to the bishop's palace to take possession of the
rooms left by John XXIII. Next day he was ordained
deacon, Saturday priest, and Sunday bishop. Then he
received everyone's oath of fealty. Next Sunday his
solemn coronation took place in the great court of the
episcopal palace.

The new Pope, without being pledged to any party,

1 Ughelli, Elogia Columniensis familiae, Roma, 1650. Guibaud, L^tat
pontifical apres le grand Schisme, p. 50.

365

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

sincerely desired such reforms as were necessary. He
was skilful and popular, and was believed to dispose
of all the means of success. But the task was an
arduous one, and soon it was seen that he could not
bring it so quickly to a good issue. The time had not
yet come, and reforms did not seem to be ripe. The
Council, although it had become oecumenical since its
thirty-sixth session, and though it had henceforth a
legitimate head, had nevertheless to acknowledge that
several of its members were not sufficiently keen for
reform. Indeed the Roman Pontiff received scarcely any
assistance from them. Each wanted to begin by reform-
ing his neighbour, and divisions had not been abolished
by the election of the new Pope. " It is enough for one
nation to desire a reform for another to reject it " ; thus
spoke the delegate of the University of Vienna before the
Council. This simple remark shows the disintegrating
effect of national divisions, and also explains the sterility
of the fathers' efforts. Sigismund took steps with Martin
V. to hasten the conclusion of business. A new com-
mission was appointed,^ and the burning question of
benefices was put down for discussion. The Italians,
Enghsh, and Spaniards wanted all collations to be
reserved to the Pope ; whereas the French and the
Germans claimed to restrict the privileges of the Holy
See within the Umits of ancient law. They were
agreed as to the reduction of the revenues of the
Sovereign Pontiff, without taking into account the
fact that the regular revenues were far below the re-
quirements that had to be met. On the other hand,
apart from the nations, the cardinals tried to maintain
and to multiply still further the reservations to be given
to the Roman Pontiff.

' VoN DER Hardt, iv. p. 141)2.

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Martin V. began by declaring that he meant to grant
all the points as to which the nations were unanimous ;
but they were not agreed on a single one.

Weary of strife, everyone recognised the impossibility
of reforming the Church by universal decrees. There
were too many differences of view, too many opposing
interests at stake. So it was decided to make a division
in the legislation ; one part was to be for the general
needs of the Church, the other for the particular needs
of each country. The first should include all points
on which the nations were agreed ; the second should
be settled by special concordats.

Among the manifold reforming projects which were
then put before the Council, let it suffice to mention
Peter D'Ailly's treatise, Be Reformatione Ecclesiae,^

The requests of the German nation were presented
to the Pope, and then came French and Spanish de-
mands. Martin V.'s suggested plan of reform corre-
sponded roughly with the eighteen points of the
memorial worked out by the Germans. But the nations
could only agree upon seven of the proposed articles :
these were the decrees of general reform read at the
forty-third session, presided over by the Sovereign
Pontiff in person.

The first decree abolished all exemptions granted
by Popes since Gregory XI. ; and replaced all churches

^ Opp. Gersonii, ii. col. 903. As already remarked, this little work,
which is full of novel and often g'ood ideas^ is only the third part of the
treatise De materia concilii generalis, composed in 1403. See chap. x. of
this book, p. 192. The Cardinal of Cambrai first deals with the whole
body of the Church and with the councils, then with the Sovereign
Pontifi" and the Roman curia, the bishops, monks, and nuns, and lastly
with the clergy and laity, specially kings and princes. Many of these
reforms were also proposed at the Council of Trent by Cardinal
Bartholomew of the Martyrs. Cf. Analecta juris pontificii, xci. and xciii.
a. 1869 and 1872.

367

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

and monasteries, that were exempt, under the sway of
ordinary jurisdiction.

The second revoked from the same date associations
and incorporations, which had not been granted for
right and sound reasons.

By the third, the Pope gave up first fruits and
revenues of churches and monasteries during vacancies,
and placed them at the disposal of those who were
legally entitled to them.

The fourth decree pronounced all those who had
been ordained simoniacally to be suspended. All
elections and confirmations tainted with this radical
vice were annulled.

Benefices are given on account of the offices they
presuppose, said the fifth decree. It is absurd of the
beneficiaries to refuse or neglect to fulfil their pro-
fessional duties. Bishops and abbots in this position
must be consecrated or blessed without delay, other-
wise they will be deprived of their offices and benefices.

In the sixth article the Pope forbade all his sub-
ordinates to impose tithes. He himself undertook not
to demand any from the whole body of the clergy, unless
some grave cause concerned with the universal Church
were in question.

The seventh decree regulated the important question
of the fife and morals of the clergy. He reminded
ecclesiastics of the most useful and wise laws, which
neglect had sometimes led to be disobeyed, but for which
pontifical authority had always demanded respect.

Subsequent Councils renewed these regulations con-
cerning behaviour and discretion in the form in which
they are generally observed to-day.^

These articles were sanctioned on March 21, at the

1 Von der Hardt, iv. p. 1533. Hefelk, xi. p. 84.

368

THE END OF THE COUNCIL

forty-third session, at the same time as the special con-
cordats with each nation. The latter were then nearly
finished. They regulated the number and quahty of
the cardinals, who were henceforth to be chosen in each
Catholic nation,iand in this respect they were in complete
accord with the proposals made by Martin V. in response
to the requests of the Germans. The other articles
contain decisions, differing according to countries, con-
cerning reservations, collations to benefices, expectations,
and confirmations of elections. They also deal with
annates, major causes which should be carried before
the Roman curia, commendams, indulgences, and
dispensations.

These concordats deal with very grave matters, and
make the princes concessions which would never have
been granted by Pontiffs of the early mediaeval period.
They inaugurate a new era. Relations between Church
and State take a form hitherto unknown, and on which
faith and discipline could not always be congratulated.

§ 3. Martin V. and the various Nations.

Amidst these cold measures of canon law, the Holy
Father contrived to introduce an affectionate expression
of compassion for the disasters from which France had
been suffering so long, especially since the fatal day of
Agincourt (October 26, 1415). " On account of the wars
and misfortunes that afflict this country," said Martin
v., " the Pope, moved by a feeling of pious sympathy,

1 Hefele_, xi. pp. 59, 88j and 99. D'Ailly had already put forth this
proposal in his treatise (CJ. Petrus de Alliaco, p. 121). Unfortunately
he neglects to point out that the initiative for such a reform should come
from the Pope. The same question came up at the Council of Basle.
Cf. Hefele, xi. p. 348.

2 A 369

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

desires to alleviate all the ecclesiastical dues that weigh
upon the kingdom, and specially is anxious to reHeve
institutions of pubhc charity." ^ Were these measures,
which were so affectionate and full of consolation for the
eldest daughter of the Church, a reply to the brutality
and threats with which the English, in the Council itself,
had loaded the French ambassadors, and Peter D'AiDy
liimself ? Perhaps, too, the Pontiff wished to show that
he did not share Sigismund's sympathy for the King of
England and the Duke of Burgundy.

Unfortunately, owing to crises of ill-health, Charles
VI. reigned no longer : he was now only the saddened
witness, impotent, and sometimes unconscious, of his
own reign and of the decadence of his kingdom.

Being only a sovereign in name, he could make no reply
to these very touching marks of pity. On the other
hand, meetings of prelates, doctors of the University,
and members of the chief council had just taken place
from February 28 to March 16. An answer had to be
made to the knight, Luke Fieschi, who had been sent by
the Pope to notify his recent election to the King.
These meetings had been made distrustful of Martin V.,
owing to the part which Sigismund, recently won over
to Enghsh policy, had played in the last events of the
Council and the conclave. They replied to the cardinal
ambassador that, before declaring himself, the King
wanted to wait to obtain certainty as to the freedom and
legahty of the pontifical election.

An explanation of these unjustifiable suspicions is
necessary. From the beginning of the fifteenth century,
the bishops and doctors had placed themselves at the
head of a movement in favour of certain pretensions of a

^ Hefele, p. 98. VoN DER Hardt, iv. p. 1666. This concordat was
registered on April 16 and published on May 2.

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particularist and quasi- schismatical character, which
they pompously termed "the ancient rights and
privileges of the Churches of France." An order of
February 18, 1407, had settled, independently of the
Pope and against the Pope, questions which could only
be determined by mutual agreement. The GaUicans
counted on the Pontiff or on the council to settle the
points in dispute. But the Pope of Avignon would give
no decision, and the Council of Constance would do no
more, in spite of the urgency of the French ambassadors.^

Then they wished to act with authority, and decided
that the order of 1407 ' should be put into practice with-
out the intervention of the Pope. But this measure, as
unlawful as it was hurtful, could not be carried out
without opposition and without delay. This explains
why the gathering at Paris put difficulties in the way of
recognising Martin V.; it wished to take precautions
before the Pontiff would be able to exercise his authority
in France.

More than anything else, the money question was a
source of anxiety to the court and to the court prelates.
It was quite perceptible when the two royal orders of
March and April 1418 were read. The first protested
against abuses and simoniacal practices, and against a
large quantity of gold and silver going out of France.
The second formally forbade gold, silver, or jewels to be
taken to Rome when benefices were vacant, and forbade
asking the Pope for the favour of expectations. The
University had already protested energetically, and had
hastened to send to Constance its lists of benefices

1 Of. De Beaucourt, Histoire de Charlea VII., i. pp. 279, 361.

^ Les liberies de FEglise gallicane prouvees et conimentees, Durand de
Maili^ne, iii. p. 621. Registres du Parlement, i., in the same work.
P. DupuYj TraiU des droits, xxii. No. 16.

371

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

{rotuli). It preferred to depend on the Roman Pontiff
rather than on the bishops.^ Martin V. on his side showed
a proper displeasure at seeing the ungrateful way in
which his paternal advances were acknowledged. He had
promulgated the concordat for France, and he protested
forcibly against the two orders that annulled it. Mean-
while the Duke of Burgundy came into power. Already
he had had the concordat published in his states ; and,
wishing to conciliate to himself the good graces of the
Pope, he had a decree made that repealed the two orders
(September 9).

It is much to be regretted that Germany and England
followed in this matter the footsteps of France, and the
concordat made by them with Martin V. met with no
better fate.^

The Roman Pontiff was no happier in his negotiations
with the Greeks. An embassy from the Emperor and
Patriarch of Constantinople arrived at Constance on
February 19, 1418. This step resulted in the same way
as a number of others had done, after being tried by the
schismatics of the Lower Empire. There was a want of
straightforwardness at Byzantium, and just misgivings
caused them to fail at the Papal Court.

But we must not omit an important document that
was destined to stifle the heresy of John Huss in Bohemia
and Moravia.^ The twenty-four articles were added to
the famous bull Inter cunctas, put forth by Martin V.,
on the same question. This document contained a
summary of the errors of the Bohemian heresiarch in
forty-five points. All persons under suspicion of heresy
on arrest were to be cross-examined in a long series of

1 See p. 360 above.

2 Hurler, Die Konstanzer Reformation und die Concordate von 1418,
Leipzig, 1867.

^ Von der Hardt, iv. p. 1514.

372

THE END OF THE COUNCIL

propositions shown in the pontifical bull. Unhappily,
Bohemia was still too violently agitated to listen to the
voice of the Pope. Soon afterwards it became necessary
to preach a crusade against the Hussites, who were
forcing their doctrines upon people at the sword's point,
and who seemed to have borrowed from Mahomet his
famous device, " Believe or die." One need only
mention the names of Ziska, Procopius, and the fierce
Taborites to revive the memory of a multitude of
excesses in doctrine and behaviour, of innumerable
scenes of devastation, sacrilege, and horror.

Let us only note, among the decrees carried against
Wicliffe, the condemnation of the thirty- seventh pro-
position : " The Pope is not the immediate Vicar of
Jesus Christ." Galileans have affirmed, as we have
seen,i that Martin V. had admitted and approved of
the famous propositions brought forward at the fourth
and fifth sessions. If the superiority of the Council over
the Pope is a true doctrine, then the Council and not the
Pope is the immediate Vicar of Jesus Christ. Martin V.,
in condemning Wicliffe, thus indirectly struck at the
doctrine of Constance.^

There is another and equally cogent proof of this.
Among questions to be put to persons suspected of
Hussite heresy is the following : " Do you believe that the
canonically elected Pope is the successor of blessed Peter,
having supreme authority in the Church of God .^ " If the
Constance proposition is true, the accused should reply :
" No, the Council has this supreme authority." The
suspected heretic then could not have been reconciled,

^ See above^ chap. xv. p. 305 fF.

2 Hefele, p. 75. Cf. Cajetan, De auctoritate Papae et Concilii, tr. i.
and ii. Gonzalez, De Infallih., disp. xiii. sub. v. § 6, No. 2. Bossuet
thinks these arguments are scholastic subtleties, p. ii. lib. v. c. 15, of the
Defensio declarationis cleri gallicani.

373

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

had he upheld the doctrine of the earher sessions of
Constance.

What conclusion can be drawn from this twofold
argument, but that Martin V., far from confirming
the propositions afterwards called Gallican, on the
contrary formally condemned them ? ^

§ 4. Departure of the Pope and the King of the Romans,

The Council had settled nearly all the questions
that had been submitted to it. For nearly four years
the fathers had been gathered together, not without
real disadvantage to the many dioceses so long de-
prived of their legitimate pastors.

Perhaps no council had been so numerous or lasted
so long since the beginning of the Church, as no
crisis had been so terrible as that of the Great
Schism.

At last, on April 22, 1418, the forty-fifth and final
session was held. The Pope presided and Sigismund
was present at it. The customary ceremonies and
prayers were performed in the most solemn manner.
A general emotion seized the fathers when they heard
the Cardinal- deacon Raynald, titular of St Vit, exclaim
in the name of the Pope and of the members of the
Council : Domini, ite in pace. " My lords, you may
go in peace." Amen, answered the assembly with
one voice.

After a final incident, brought about by the
Falkenberg affair, of which we have spoken,^ a sermon
was preached by the Bishop of Catania. When it was

^ Hefele, p. 80. 2 gee above, chap. xv. p. 306.

374

THE END OF THE COUNCIL

over, the Cardinal of Chalant solemnly arose and read
the decree dissolving the Council of Constance. Placet,
replied the Cardinal of Ostia in the name of all the
bishops. A consistorial lawyer then acted as inter-
preter to the King of the Romans. He thanked the
cardinals and the fathers, as well as the envoys of the
Universities and Christian princes ; and finally protested
the invincible attachment of Sigismund to the Holy
Chm-ch as well as to the new Pontiff whom she had
just elected.

The Pope and the King of the Romans remained
a few weeks more at Constance to settle a few matters
of minor importance there, but the hour of the true
dissolution of the Council was at hand. During four
years the town had been stirred and sometimes dis-
turbed by all the echoes of an assembly that was more
stormy than the waves of its lake in the most tempes-
tuous weather. It had often resounded to the clang of
arms, the flourish of trumpets, and the cries of triumph,
when magnificent tourneys were given by Sigismund
to the warlike nobihty of Switzerland and Germany.
A final passage of arms of greater brilliancy than all
the rest was to assemble the princes and knights once
more in the presence of Sigismund and to bring these
great days to a splendid close. This mingling of sacred
and profane, of theological discussions and jousts of
chivalry, was according to the manners of the times.

Every day brought news of the departure of a
cardinal, a famous bishop, or a prince with his numerous
and brilliant train.^

^ Simon de Cramaud had left Constance in the month of January ;
G. Philastre left on April 2. P. D'Ailly, who had been the soul of the
council, started on March 30 for Avignon, where he had his palace, and
where he died on August 9, 1420. More than fifty authors are mistaken
as to the date of his death, and most of them put it in 1425.

375

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Every day saw the enormous and mingled crowd,
brought together by the Council, grow less. The
announcement of the departure of the Pope and King
of the Romans hastened on all other departures, and
was to deprive the city of a glory and distinction that
it has never recovered.

Martin V. officiated pontifically for the last time at
Constance on Whit Sunday, May 15, 1418.^ Next
day, at seven in the morning, he left the town in state.
Sigismund and the other princes held the reins of his
horse in turn, counts of the Empire bore the dais above
his head, and forty thousand horsemen accompanied
him on his way. At Gottlieben, boats waited for him
at the foot of the historic castle, which had held John
Huss and John XXIII. successively as prisoners. The
Pope gave his benediction to the King of the Romans,
whom he was never to see again, and then embarked
on the Rhine, while his suite lined the banks of the
river. He turned his course towards Bern and Geneva
(June 11), and was everywhere greeted with glad cheers
by the Catholic populations. Finally, he reached
Milan, where he consecrated the high altar of the
cathedral. He made a long stay at Mantua (November
9) and Florence (from February 26, 1419, till September
14, 1420) before returning to the Eternal City, which
he entered in state on September 28, 1420.

Sigismund too left Constance on May 21, 1418,
to visit his fair towns of Alsace, and then finally returned
to his own states. The King of the Romans had just
done eminent services to the Church. During the
whole of this stormy period his prudence and almost

^ F. C0NTEI.0RIUS, Martini V. vita ex legitimis documentis collecta (Roma,
1611), p. 12 fF. Reumont, Beitrage zur italienischen Geschichte, iv.
p. 804 ff.

376

THE END OF THE COUNCIL

incessant moderation were all the more meritorious
from his being naturally of an ardent and active dis-
position. We will not compare him to Constantine,
present at the Council of Nice, and giving its decrees
the force of law ; nevertheless, apart from a few errors,
his part was honourable. His respect for ecclesiastical
authority was undiminished, in spite of the regrettable
scenes he sometimes witnessed at Constance, and in
spite of the too natural temptation to increase his
imperial power in proportion as he saw ecclesiastical
authority becoming lessened. He would have wished
plans of reform to take precedence in the assembly ;
for he rightly thought that, when once the Pope's
election was over, everyone would be glad to have
done with it and to get away.

He would have also liked to modify the constitution
of the Empire at the same time,^ but he passed the
whole of his Hfe in strugghng with pressing difficulties,
in elaborating a host of projects, in entering into in-
numerable negotiations which could hardly ever come
to anything. Brave, active, and chivalrous, he had
all the qualities that later on distinguished Francis I.
of France. We may add that he also resembled the
latter in his taste for pleasure, in his love of dangerous
enterprises, in his want of continuity, and in his
prodigaHty, which made him a needy sovereign. For
a time, however, Sigismund allowed himself to be
carried away by the conventicle of Basle, which went
beyond the bad doctrines of Constance, but he soon
acknowledged his error as well as the good right of the

^ Cf. Carl Koehne^ Die .sogenannte Reformation Kaisers Sigismunds,
Neues Archiv, 1898, p. 690. F. Miltenberger, Das Itinerarium Martins
V. von Constanz his Rom, in Mittheilungen des Instituts fur ostreichische
Geschichtsforschung , xv. (1894), p. 662.

377

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Pope. He became once more what he had often been
in the Council, the external bishop, and one of the
firmest upholders of the faith.

Such was the part of the last Emperor of the
family of Luxemburg, before, during, and after
Constance.

S78

CHAPTER XIX

THE END

In his letter on Historical Studies, Leo XIII. laid down
this great law : " The perpetuity of the Church cannot
fail : God himself stands surety for this and history
bears witness to it : Sponsor Deus, historia testis.
Providence, sometimes in spite of men, makes use of
events for the progressive development of the society
He has founded." ^

The history of the Great Schism is perhaps the most
striking proof of this axiom ; this acute and extremely
dangerous crisis would have dealt a mortal blow to
the Papacy, had not the promise of Christ made it
immortal.

The centuries as they pass do not all help to throw
as much Ught on this distinctive mark of the true
Church. There are some which hardly contribute
to enhance her splendour and to increase her influence :
they may be called the iron ages. Of these were the
tenth and eleventh, and, after the glorious revival of the
twelfth, and particularly of the thirteenth centuries,
the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the
fifteenth brought a fresh intermission in the develop-
ment of dogma, in the realisation of projects of reform,
and in the progress of pontifical authority.

When Martin V., henceforth the only Pope, closed

1 De studiis historicis ad Cardinales Pitra, de Luca et Hergenroether,
1883.

379

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

this era of discord and restored peace and unity to the
Church, under these three heads there took place an
awakening to which history must testify, while regretting
that the results were not such as one might have ex-
pected.

§ 1. Doctrinal Progress.

In several passages of his writings, St Augustine sets
himself to show that the appearance of heresies was one
of the causes of this development : " Errors teem at
certain periods," he says, " but they are the occasion of a
closer study of doctrine, and truths get better under-
stood and proclaimed with more energy. Thus it is
that an indiscreet question raised by an innovator
becomes an occasion for a fresh manifestation of doctrinal
progress." ^

This happy result does not always immediately follow.
Sometimes a man's life is too brief for him to witness
the birth and growth of evil, and to testify to the
salutary effect of the remedy. We have seen how
heresies developed during the forty years of schism. The
University of Paris with its theological audacity,
Wicliffe with his violence of mind and pen, John Huss
with his revolutionary enterprises, compromised every-
thing and risked the loss of everything.

The tares were sown in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, and it is not till the sixteenth that the Master
tears them up to make room for the growing of the good
grain. Luther must appear for the Church to hold
solemn assizes at Trent and give the Christian universe
the decrees that govern us still. The particular evil
called forth general good : Oportet et haereses esse. On

* Be Civ. Dei, xvi. 2. In Psalmls, liv. 22. Confess., vii. 19.

380

THE END

another point, which was not less fundamental, the
result kept the world longer waiting ; and, to say the
truth, it is only the end of the nineteenth century that
reaps the benefit.

We know the tenor and the disastrous sense of the
famous decrees of the fourth and fifth sessions of Con-
stance : we know how they aimed at nothing less than
modifying the fundamental constitution of the Church.^
Martin V. had not acknowledged them, but his resistance
had been rather passive : he had not been able to fight
openly against a movement which at the bottom of his
heart he believed to be fatal. In spite of himself he
summoned a council at Pavia in 142S to obey the decree
Frequens, which was animated with the same distrust
as that which ordered a general synod every ten years.'^
When the assembly had to be transferred to Siena, the
Pope was able to convince himself that his most pessi-
mistic apprehensions were well founded.^

As for the conventicle that gathered at Basle in 1431,
it was too often a mere mob : and what a singular and
too often scandalous spectacle it presented to the world
is well known. It dared to set the Lord of Ripaille, the
Anti-pope Felix V., against the true Pope Eugenius IV.
Eugenius in turn summoned the synod of Ferrara to
cope with that of Basle. There were not only two Popes,
but two councils ; and one might have imagined that
things had reverted to the worst days of the Schism.*

These excesses, which were as ridiculous as they were
scandalous, did not, however, fail to have one result.
They discredited the decree Frequens, which ceased to

1 See chap. xv. above, p. 294.

2 See chap, xviii. above, p. 362.

3 Cf. John of RacxUsa, in Monumenta Cone. Gener Saec, xv. t. i. pp. 12 if.

4 Haller, Concilium Basiliense, Studien und Quellen zur Geschichte des
Concils von Basel. Bale, 1896-1897.

381

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

be applied, and they put at the same time an obstacle in
the way of the periodical reunion of general councils,
which could never be one of the ordinary means of
government.

On the other hand, these deviations did not hinder
future rebels from appeahng to a later council against
the Roman Pontiff. When a prince like Louis XI. or
Louis XIV. desires to usm*p the rights of the Church,
when bishops Hke those of 1682, such as Febronius
and Gregoire, mean to shake off the Papal yoke, when
rebelHous innovators put forward daring and incendiary
propositions, when a doctor such as DoUinger refuses to
beheve in Papal infallibiHty, all, despite the repeated
vetoes of the Supreme Pontiffs, appeal to a future
council as to a jurisdiction superior to that of the Pope.^

In their turn, at the instigation of men like Dumoulin,
Pithou, and Dupuy, parUaments will apply such legis-
lation as that of the placet, the exequatur, and the appeal
against abuses. The maxims of Constance and of Basle
wiU give rise to tendencies and procedures of that
suspicious Galhcanism which was to keep France in a
spirit of chicanery and peevish independence with
regard to the Pope, and in a semi-schismatical con-
dition. In the hands of the lawyers of Charles VII.
and his successors, these decrees will become, to use the
words of Guizot, a terrible and fatal instrument of tyranny.
Fenelon was well situated for forming a judgment, and
his definition of the so-called " Liberties " of the Church
of France is well known : " Liberty so far as concerns

^ This appealing to a future council, which was already rebuked by
Coelestine I. in the fifth century, was again censured by Martin V.,
Pius II., and Julius II. Cf. de Marca, de Concord, sacerd. et imperii, iv.
c. 17. It forms the 78th privilege of the Cxallican Church, demanded by
Pithou and the French legists. Cf. Durand de Maillane, Les liberies
de tAglise gallicane prouvees et commentees, ii. p. 72i>. Lyon, 1771.

382

THE END

the Pope, slavery so far as concerns the King. The
King's authority in the Church has passed into the hands
of secular judges. Laymen rule bishops." ^

Voltaire in his turn has passed judgment on these
fatal privileges : " The 1682 assembly thought the time
had come for setting up a Catholic Afostolic Church in
France, which would not be Roman,'' ^ It was neither
more nor less than an advance towards the idea of a
national Church with a common faith, but without one
head. It was the preparation of a civil constitution for
the clergy.

Jansenists and Josephites, liberals who were more or
less revolutionary, and despots who were more or less
absolute, all considered these principles as a sacred ark.
" I require people to profess the four articles and
Gallican Uberties," said the Emperor to Abbe d' Astros.
" Moreover, I have the sword at my side, so take
care." ^

All these distressing discussions scarcely favour
dogmatic advance. The University of Paris, which had
been up to this period one of the great exponents of
doctrinal tradition, was within an ace of being ruined
when the victorious Bourguignons persecuted it in 1418.*
Later on, when too much under England, it played its
too well-known part in the condemnation of Joan of
Arc, and in the pragmatic sanction,^ it rejected the very
idea of a crusade on behalf of the Greeks. ^ Its influence,

1 Fi^NELON, Plans de Gouvemement, iii. p. 433^ Ed. Didot, 1870.

2 Steele de Louis XIV., ch. xxxv.

3 D'Haussonville, PEglise romaine et le premier Empire, iii. ad finem.

* Ordonnances des rois de France, x. p. 485. Du Boulay, v. p. 352.
Gebson, 0pp., iv. col. 527 ff.

* Ayroles, L' University de Paris au temps de J, d'Arc, 1902. Dxj
Boulay, v. pp. 632, 636, 642.

6 76«d.,pp. 609, 617.

383

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

disastrous from a patriotic point of view, became
absolutely null as to theology. It only had enough
signs of life left to send its rotuli and libri supplicationum
to Rome, and to defend to the very last the benefices it
had once obtained. Its professors, removed far from
Paris by the troubles of the times, founded rival in-
stitutions in foreign lands. ^ The number of students
diminished in proportion as the glory of the masters
became dimmed. The time when thousands of pupils
were seen around the professorial chairs of Alma Mater
passed away, never to return. The days of Albert the
Great, Thomas and Bonaventura came to a close. No
more Theological " Summae " issued from the University.
Compared with such works of genius, Augustine of
Rome's doctrinally unsafe books,'^ those of the ardent
Thomist, Henry of Gorcum, and even of the learned and
many-sided Nicholas of Cusa might be called works of
decadence.

Without being too severe on the Scotist, Gabriel Biel,
what can be said of John Major and James Almain
his disciple, the rabid defenders of all GaUican
theories ? ^

Some of these theologians, like WilHam of Varillong,
fall into all the eccentricities of style and explanation
that mark false scholasticism. Others, Hke Paul
Cortesine, were elegant humanists, without precision,
solidity, or depth.

It is especially on the subject of the constitution of the
Church that theological errors crop up. Some authors

1 Cologne, Erfurt, Wurzburg, Leipzig, Cracoria, St Andrews in
Scotland, Valentia in Spain, Palermo, Turin, and Cremona in Italy,
Orange Aix, Perpignan.

2 Condemned at the 22nd session of the Council of Basle. See John
Turrecremata's report in MaNsi, xxx. p. 979 ff.

3 Some of their works are in Gebson, ii. col. 961 if.

384

THE END

think that they are obHged to maintain a outrance
the decrees of Constance, and to defend aristocratic and
conciHar theories against the monarchical authority of
the Pope. These theologians and legists rely upon kings
and parliaments as in the days of Occam and Dubois.
The Caesarian and individuahstic spirit makes headway
even before Luther's time.

But, on the other hand, true science protested, and the
Council of Florence, in the presence of Latins and Greeks
united, proclaimed the Roman Pontiff the first authority
in the Catholic world, the true vicar of Christ, the head
of the Church, the father and teacher of all Christians.
A century later, the Council of Trent, rather by actual
facts than by formal definitions, proclaimed the same
truth. The theologians of the sixteenth century gave
up the fatal theories that had prevailed during
the whole of the fifteenth, and revived a great
doctrinal era.

Nevertheless the disastrous current continued,
specially in France. Gallicanism, whether theological
or parliamentary, too often held sway in the assemblies
of the clergy, in books infected with Jansenism or
Josephism, and in royal courts and parliaments. It
survived revolutions and changes of dynasties, modi-
fications of regimes, and the appearance of new codes.
Governments imbued with liberal principles went to
fetch from the arsenal of absolute laws rusty arms for
use against the Church. The Vatican Council had to
silence the doctors and parliamentarians who invoked
the maxims of Constance and Basle, and boasted of
being disciples of Gerson and Bossuet in religious policy.
And thus it was that the stream of sound doctrine
finally made its way through the errors which had arisen
from the great Western Schism.
2 b 385

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

§ 2. The Question of Reform.

The Schism, both from the prejudices which it
aroused and from the disorder which it fomented, was
not calculated to favour the ideas of reform which so
long had filled the loftiest minds. The grave com-
pHcations that ensued after the Council of Constance,
and the obstacles incessantly interposed by human
passion in the way of such restorative ideas, hindered
the latter from coming to anything. Here again
opposing currents were plainly evident.

On the one hand, the reforms decreed at Constance
and repeated in the concordats that followed were
received with favour and appHed with success. Thence-
forward the question of reform was part of the order
of the day. The example was given from above.
Excellent Popes, generous friends of science, enlightened
protectors of the arts, almost always displayed an
energy and zeal which rose to the full height of the
most difficult circumstances. Doubtless Martin V.,
Cahxtus III., and Sixtus IV. were not free from all
accusations of nepotism, but this defect may have
had extenuating circumstances. ^ All endeavoured to
reform the Roman curia, in spite of a certain amount
of interested opposition,^ and found prelates who were
ready to second their efforts.

The cardinals, henceforth gathered into a single
college, ceased to make the Christian world groan
with their intemperate extravagance. The honours of
purple were granted to many men in every way worthy
of their august functions. Suffice it to mention John

' Pastor, i. p. 230. Goyau, Le Vatican, p. 134. Hefele^ xi.
p. 148.

2 Pastor, ii. p. 40 ff.

386

THE END

Dominici, the peace-bringing legate at Constance,
blessed Nicholas Albergati, the skilful negotiator of
the treaty of Arras, the humanist Julian Cesarini,
who commanded armies, the learned Capranica, who
made some celebrated foundations and who was twice
offered the tiara.^ At Constantinople, Cardinals
Isidore and Bessarion, so different in character and
life, shed a last ray of glory on the clergy of the East.
Later on, Pius II. placed Saint Antoninus on the com-
mission which he had entrusted with reforming the
curia.^

Members of the Sacred College were sent as legates
to all the places in which reform was to be undertaken,
but none of them surpassed the wise and good Cardinal
Nicholas of Cusa in zeal and influence. " To purify
and renew, not to destroy or to crush," such was his
motto. " Man has not to reform religion," he added,
" but religion has to reform man."

It was his work to get rid of the bad influence of the
Conventicle of Basle in all directions, to bring back
priests and people to Roman unity, to reform religious
houses, sometimes in spite of the opposition of public
authority. In Denys the Carthusian he found an in-
defatigable ally.^ In Austria, Styria, and Bavaria,
he extolled the rule of Bursfeld,^ and transformed
more than fifty Benedictine monasteries as well as a
large number of chapters regular of the Augustinians.
Everywhere he appointed visitors and convoked

1 Pastor^ ii. p. 453.

2 MoBO, Di San Antonio in relazione alia riforma cattolica nel sec. XV.
(Florence, 1899).

2 D. A. MouGEL, Denys le Chartreux, sa vie, son role (Montreuil,
1896).

* Of. DoM v. Berliebe, Mevue Benedictine, eleventh year, Nos. 9, 11, 12 ;
xix. No. 1, Maredsous, 1899, 1900, 1902

387

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

synods ; at Bamberg, Miinster, Mayence, and Cologne
he abated scandalous quarrels and smoothed away
hosts of difficulties.

At the same period, the famous Augustinian con-
gregation of Windesheim continued its works of
edification and salvation, particularly in the low
countries. 1

In the order of St Dominic, the movement began at
Bologna, the burial-place of the venerated founder.
Its originator was Blessed Raymond of Capua, the
confessor and historian of St Catherine of Siena.^ A
few young religious from Flanders and Holland had
come to study at the University of Bologna, and they
communicated to their native land this generous
ardour, and the blessed Rosary soon became a means
of reviving primitive fervour. The reformed religious
were distributed into several congregations, which vied
with one another in renewing themselves in the spirit
of their founder. This spirit reinvigorated the whole
order and made it blossom anew with saints both male
and female.^

Among the sons of St Francis, Bernardine of Siena
and John of Capistrano set up fervent houses of Friars
Minor in all directions, and renewed the wonders
formerly wrought by their blessed founder all the
world over. Both preached devotion to the holy name

1 J. AcQuoY, Het Kloster te Windesheim en zign invloed (Utrecht, 187B).
Watrigant, La Genese des Ejoercices de St Ignace (Amiens, 1889).
Bonet-Maury, De opera scholastica, Fratrum vitae communis (Paris, 1897),
p. 61.

2 Cf. pp. 23, .51, 61, above.

^ R. P. Chapotin's note, historian of the order of St Dominic. Of.
EcHARD, Scriptores ordinis Praedicatorum , Paris, 1719. Bullaire de Vordre
des Freres prccheurs, vols. iii. and iv. Masselli, Monumenta et antiquitates
veteris disciplinae ordinis Praedicatorum (Rome, 1864). Reichert, Monu-
menta 0. FR. Pr. historica, viii.

388

THE END

of Jesus,! lY^Q first to the enthusiastic crowds who
listened to him in Italy, and the second to the Hussites
of Bohemia and to the crusaders at the siege of
Belgrade.^

The example thus coming down from the higher levels
of ecclesiastical and religious Hfe immediately had a
fruitful influence on the Christian laity. To become
convinced of this, one only has to read contemporary
accounts of the magnificent manifestations of the
Jubilee of 1450. One cannot but wonder at the
spectacle of immense crowds fiUing all the roads of
Italy and turning towards the city of pontifical bene-
dictions. Thousands of prelates, princes, and dis-
tinguished persons mingled with the enormous influx
of pilgrims intent on gaining the Jubilee indulgences.
Emperor Frederic III. had himself crowned in the
Eternal City in 1452, and people expected a revival
of the most glorious days of the Germanic Roman
Empire. Everywhere at that time a reawakening of
the rehgious life was witnessed, and it looked as if the
most Christian period of mediaeval times were to be
renewed.

Along with the spirit of faith arose also the spirit
of charity. Hospitals and lepers' houses were built
or else were restored. Monts-de-piete, those banks
of charity, grew up, thanks to Blessed Bernardine of
Feltro ; ^ hostelries received travellers and poor

1 Cf. Pastor, i. p. 248 ; ii. p. 866.

2 Cf. De Kerval, Saint Jean de Capistran (Paris, 1887). Thureau-
Dangin, Saint Bernardin de Sienne (Paris, 1896). Alessio, Storia di S.
Bernardino di Siena e del suo tempo, 1899. Ludovic de Besse, Bernardin
de Feltre, 2 vols. (1902).

8 Cf, MoiRACHi, Vita del B. Bernardino Tomitano da Feltre (Baira,
1894). Flornoy, Le hienheureux Bernardin de Feltre, p. 156 (Paris,
1897).

389

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

pilgrims ; ^ orphanages were opened for foundlings ;
popular schools multiplied ; ^ more numerous and
simple catechisms were put into the hands of all
the faithful.^ The Imitatio spread more and more
among the masses, and God raised up extraordinary
envoys of his love in all directions. Preaching was
rarely more general throughout the Church, and it
exercised considerable influence.*

And still, by the side of these proofs of resurrection
and life, many symptoms of disease and grave wounds
were shown in the midst of this still Christian society,
which was a prey to continual attacks of the spirit of
immorality and scepticism.

Certain Popes who came on the scene subsequently,
and more than one cardinal, did not always give edify-
ing examples, and the clergy in many of its members
ceased to be a model for the people. The humanists,
whose presence and aspirations have already been in
evidence at Constance, tried to withdraw their uneasy
curiosity more and more from the supervision of the
Roman Church. They not only stood out as the
champions of classical antiquity, but as the imitators
and defenders of pagan morality and law. One need
only mention the names of Poggio, Valla, Filelfo, and
BeccadelH, to immediately revive memories of flighty
morals and indifference or hatred for religion.

In their books matter is glorified above spirit, and
their work has been rightly and graphically described
as the resurrection of the flesh.

It was amidst the nobility first of all that this
spirit of disorganisation seethed. Knighthood and

1 Janssen, L'Allemagne et la Reforme, French translation, i. p. 572.
2/6irf.,p. 49. ^ Ihid.,^.S2.

* Pastor, i. p. 42.

390

THE END

chivalry, which had so long been the armed servants
of God and the weak, became wanting in grit, changed
character, lost their legitimate independence of spirit,
and fell under the domination of princes. Remnants
of feudalism, too faithfully retained, handed over
certain ecclesiastical benefices to nobles who were
often ignorant and worldly,^ and sometimes too young,
and sovereigns tried to transform prelacies into fiefs
and bishops into vassals. On the other hand, the
introduction of Roman regal law into Christian mediaeval
legislation gave rise to social disturbances, undermined
the old political constitutions, destroyed ancient
popular privileges, increased the arbitrary powers of
princes, and favoured indirectly all enterprises directed
against the Church and the Papacy .^

The germs of opposition sown at Constance and Basle
increased and turned kings and peoples aside from
accepting reforms favourably, when their initiative was
found in Roman authority.

Later on. Protestantism was to find its strongest
support in degenerate courts, and its principal lever for
effecting the so-called movement for reforming the
morals of the clergy was to be the immorahty of princes.
Add to this the cupidity of the nobles and the uncon-
scious ardour of popular passion, and we have the three
chief causes of the success of the Reformation made in
the heart of the Church in spite of the Church and
against the Church. Soon the Council of Trent was to

1 Janssen, p. 575. See Pius II. 's eloquent complaints about France ;
Pii II. Comment. (Francfurti, 1614).

2 Cf. Janssen, op. cit., i. pp. 403, 456, 570. It was particularly the
University of Bologna that introduced the exclusive study of Roman law,
and MuBATOBi rightly complains of the fatal influence of this pagan
legislation in Italy, in spite of the perfection of its legal forms. Cf.
Dissertazioni sopra la antichitd italiane, i. p. 349.

391

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

study the decrees Be Reformatione at the same time as
the dogmatic canons, and was to impose them as a whole,
as a code of wise and unchangeable laws on all the
CathoHc universe.

§ 3. The Temporal Power, and Political and Religious
Authority of the Popes,

Martin V. had a very sincere desire to promote
dogmatic progress and to protect all attempts at reform.
But he soon saw that he could not attain this double
aim without having recovered first of all his complete
independence in the sphere of his pontifical domain.
He wanted to return to Rome immediately to restore
his power there. Through this energetic and intelligent
resolution, he shook himself free from the urgency of
Sigismund, who wanted to keep him in Germany and
who offered him Basle, Mayence, and Strasburg as a
place of residence one after the other.^ At the same
time the Pontiff dechned the entreaties of the French
prelates, who begged him to return to Avignon in order
to preside over the coming council there. " My duty
is to return to Rome," invariably repHed Martin V.
" The city is suffering from the absence of its sovereign ;
the Roman Church is the mother of all the rest ; there
and there alone the Pope is at his post, Hke a pilot at
the helm."- For the twenty-fifth time the Papacy,
momentarily in exile, was about to take fresh possession
of its secular possessions, and was to be once more at

^ Von der Habdt, iv. p. 1580.

2 Platina, Vita Martini V., p. 623. Cf. Pastor^ Histoire des Papes, i.
p. 222. Denifle, ChartuL, iv. p. 347. Valois, iv. p. 434.

392

THE END

home. With reference to another return of a Pope to
Rome, de Maistre alludes to the fable of Antaeus regaining
fresh strength after having touched earth, his mother.
The Pontiff also wished to resume the struggle against
error and vice with renewed vigour in putting foot on
the blessed ground which his predecessors had won by
their sweat and blood.

In what state did Martin find Italy and the Eternal
City, which the Papacy had made so glorious ? Anarchy
reigned everywhere, and the Pope only governed a small
part of his temporal dominions. The nobles and the
communes had been quarrelling over its remnants,
while condottieri, foreigners for the most part, overran
the peninsula in all directions, scattering slaughter
everywhere, and leaving behind them nothing but ruins
and death. The Pope's own family, the powerful
dynasty of the Colonnas, firmly estabhshed in Campania,
sought to subdue the Orsini and the Conti, and hoped
that the new Pontiff would increase its power with his
domains.^

The communes had gained strength and become
powerfully organised during the troublous times of the
Schism. Their jealousy, their pretensions, and even
their cruelty, which were in no way behind that of the
nobles, were the cause of incessant fights. Rome enters
into a struggle with Viterbo, Perugia sets itself to
subdue Foligno, Ancona fights with Recanati, and one
wonders, in the midst of all these battles, what has
become of the legitimate authority of the Pontiffs, who
have been kept far from their capital by the misfortunes
of the times. With regard to another epoch, no less
troubled, Dom Pitra wrote : " The strangest thing is

1 J. GuiRAUD, La politique italienne du Pape Martin V. , Revue historique,
1901.

393

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

that the Church could remain where she was. Not
without reason do we find the image of the three children
in the furnace constantly surrounding the graves of the
Popes. They had to live on hot embers, and to rise
from the cinders like the phoenix. Old Latium had
become a volcano, and the catacombs were hollowed out
of burning puzzolana. The most solid edifice under the
sun was built on a soil that trembled and burned. Thus
will it always be, even after peace has come, even after
our own days." ^

Martin, in recrossing the Alps, knew that he was going
to find Rome occupied by the Neapolitan troops of
Joan II. They only evacuated the town in 1419, and it
was only in 1410 that the Pope was able to return home
and to be received there as a saviour, and soon to win
the title of Father of his country. He restored the
Eternal City, assuaged the wretchedness of its inhabitants,
took severe measures against the defacing of monuments
which had become habitual, and by degrees re-estab-
lished his authority in the Papal States, and fought with
energy to put down the scourge of brigandage, which
was endemic in the Roman Campagna. A large number
of towns, tired of endless dissensions, got rid of their
petty tyrants and united together under the immediate
sway of the Pontiff. At his death, peace and order
reigned in the Papal States.^ There were, however, more
troubles under Eugenius IV. and Nicholas V. ; but the
Popes soon got the better of them, either through the
warlike energy of the Vitelleschi and the Scarampo,
or else by pacific means more in harmony with the mind
of the Church.

During the eight years of Nicholas V.'s pontificate,

' PiTRA, Analecta novissima (Tuscul., 1885), p. 16.

^ Cf. GuiRAUD, La politique italienne du Pape Martin F., Bev. hist., 1901

394

THE END

Rome arose from her ruins with renewed youth,
covered herself with an adornment of churches and
palaces, and surrounded herself with a strong circle of
ramparts. This son of the people, raised to the honour
of the tiara, " was the first of the Medicis in spirit, if not
in rank."i Julius II. would have "Pontiffs to be
masters and lords in the game of this world. But at
that time in Italy it was necessary for a Pope to be
feared to secure respect ; it was not a bad thing for
him to wear a cuirass : the tastes of Julius II. were
appropriate. For several centuries to come he fortified
the Papal States and strengthened the old pontifical
establishment. From Piacenza to Terracina he made
St Peter a strong landowner." ^

Let us hear the statement of Machiavelli : " But
lately, no baron was too small to despise Papal power.
To-day it is respected by the King of France."

With the restoration of the temporal power grew the
influence of the Popes over Italy and the Catholic
nations. The reunion of schismatic Greece with the
Church and missionary successes were convincing proofs
of it. Already the Council of Basle had worked hard
to conclude a treaty of reHgious alliance between the
Church of the Lower Empire and the Roman Church.*
The minority of the fathers came to an understanding
with Eugenius IV., and chose the town of Florence as
the place of the future council for union (May 7 and
29, 1437). The Greek envoys arrived in Europe, held
discussions at Ferrara, and met the Latins at Florence,

^ VoiGT, Die Wiederbelebung des classischen Alterthums oder das erste
Jahrhundert des Humanismus , i. p. 413 (Berlin, 1880).

^ GoYAU, Le Vatican, p. 135.

3 Mansi, xxix. p. 1235 £F. ; xxx. p. 670. Hardouin, viii. pp. ] 185,
1190, 1498 if. Cecconi, Studi storici sul Concilio di Firenze, i. 1869.
Halleb, Concilium Basiliense, i. 4th part.

395

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

thanks to the learning of Bessarion ^ and the energy
of Isidore of Kieff .

Being badly received in their country because of this
alliance treaty, some of these Greek ambassadors
betrayed the cause of unity, and fell away again with all
their people into schism. In giving up Rome, this
unhappy Church gave up herself. The Turks of
Mahomet II. soon came to show that the degenerate
soldiers of the Lower Empire could only be saved by
union with the Latins and a crusade.

This redeeming crusade would have been undertaken
later on by Sigismund and Maximilian. Joan of Arc
had counselled the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good,
to undertake it ; Savonarola urged Florence and Italy
to do the same ; Denys the Carthusian in the depths of
his cloister, and Christopher Columbus in his adventurous
ships, dreamed of arousing the West to fight the Mussul-
mans. This Eastern Question filled the thoughts of all
the greater spirits of this century : it was also a capital
affair for the Popes, who alone had influence enough to
bring such an undertaking to a successful issue. The
question was, indeed, how to unite the petty Italian
republics, to urge peace upon the principal powers of the
West, to allay the secular jealousies which divided the
Poles and Hungarians, to send reinforcements to the
Knights of Rhodes, to Matthias Corvin, to Hunyadi, and
to Scanderberg, in a word, to arouse Europe, and to hurl
it upon Asia before Mahomet II. had time to mass
a hundred and sixty thousand men for a march upon
Byzantium.

Nicholas V. ceased his artistic and Hterary occupations
to arm vessels and to send help to the besieged Greek
capital. The ardent Spaniard, Calixtus III., is above

^ Vast, Le Cardinal Bessarion (Paris, 1878), p. 53 if.

396

THE END

all the crusader Pope. A new Urban II., he makes a
great effort to retake Constantinople. Pius II. addresses
fiery harangues to the nations and Christian princes,
and multiplies the urgent steps he is taking. Un-
worthily abandoned by Venice, he dies at Ancona
without being able to convey to the East the troops
whom his eloquence had assembled. He was the soul
of the crusade, and it died with him. In vain Sixtus IV.
sent Bessarion to France and England, Borgia to Spain,
Capranica to Italy.^ The spirit of Europe had changed,
and unselfish gallantry had fallen away along with
faith. The fall of the Eastern Empire, the arrival of
Greek exiles in the West, did not get Christendom to
shake off its torpor and unsheath the sword ; it was all
over with the crusades. The East, after having been
subject to the depressing leadership of Byzantium, fell
under the shameful and sometimes bloody yoke of the
Turks for centuries, perhaps for ever.

The Pontiffs of this period also resumed the missionary
efforts which Clement V., John XXII., and Clement VI.
had inaugurated, and which the Great Schism had
miserably interrupted.

In the north of Europe, after sweeping away the
remains of the worship of Thor and Odin, they extended
the boundaries of the faith and received the sovereign
of Denmark and of Norway at Rome.^ In the East,
they set themselves to reconcile the Russian Church
with the Roman Church, and to urge the Grand Duke
Iwan against the Turks. On the Danube, the Papacy
tried to do away with schism among the Walachians,
Bulgarians, and Moldavians.^ In Lebanon, it begs the

1 Raynald, 1456, Nos. 1 and 8 ; 1457, Nos. 7, 12, 50 ; 1458, No. 35.

2 Pastor, iv. p. 236.

3 Raynald, a. 1434, 18-20 ; 1436, 27.

397

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Maronites to bring their rite more and more into con-
formity with that of the Roman Church.^

The merchants of Germany were in touch with all the
world, and made the faith known in the most remote
regions, before it followed Vasco da Gama on the new
road to India which he had discovered."^ Full of daring
in the Far East, the Church kept up her position in
North Africa. Soon she was to arrive in America, simul-
taneously with the boldest of the conquistadores. She
fought against slavery and immorality ; keeping in
check alike the passion of the oppressors and the
vengeance of the oppressed.

While a part of old Europe was being torn from the
hold of the papacy, the latter was making unexpected
conquests beyond the sea ; and unbounded hopes
formed some consolation for inexcusable desertion.

A supernatural Providence guards the Church, dis-
posing of human events in such wise that she never loses
the distinctive note of Catholicity, which is the most
palpable and evident proof of her divinity.

In writing this page of ecclesiastical annals, we have
sometimes cruelly felt the truth of Lacordaire's saying :
" History is the long narrative of human dishonour."
It indeed appears as if certain years at the close of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were accursed.

Thus it is that one reads in Scripture of towns struck
by fire from heaven, or of certain countries condemned
for a time to desolation and the barrenness of the
desert.

In this fatal period, a theological science which has
gone astray deceives men's minds and scandalises the
faith ; virtues supernatural and even natural are under

1 Raynald, a. 1469, 28 ff.

2 Janssen, iJAllemagne a la fin du moyen age, i. p. 357.

398

THE END

eclipse ; they no longer adorn the crown, the mitre, nor
even always the tiara; the Church is the victim of
human passion ; Popes become the creatures and some-
times the playthings of the Kings whose judges they
formerly were ; such, in short, is the picture we have
had to put before our readers.

On the other hand, at the close of the Great Schism,
arts flourished, the exiled muses of Greece found refuge
in Italy, learning brought to light the most perfect
masterpieces of the past, and the Church began to
favour this movement. " She takes a grace from time
to adorn her for eternity," as Lacordaire again says.

But why was it that certain humanists preferred
Plato to Jesus Christ, and that their mental guides were
at Alexandria or Athens, and not at Jerusalem or Rome ?
Why did the whole of Olympus seem to descend into
the palaces of Florence and Genoa, and sometimes even
of the Vatican ?

An epoch of decadence, say some. A century of
renaissance, say others. A mixed period, we will say,
like all the ages of history, but in which the world-
stream carried on in its troubled waters less gold than
sand and slime.

Those who expect to find in every period of history an
ever briUiant proof of the divinity and sanctity of the
Church, are sometimes hable to cruel disappointments.
At certain eras the fact is clearer to the eye of faith than
to that of reason.

In a given age, even in a Christian age, we do not
always find the Church showing herself in all her glory
without spot or wrinkle as the bride of Jesus Christ.
Still less do we find her as the Church universally
venerated and obeyed.

Rather must she be compared to the cloud, sometimes

399

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

dark and sometimes light, which led the Hebrews in
their journey towards the land of promise.

The history of the Church, like that of her Divine
Master, has a divine and a human side. At certain eras
it is the former that shines forth ; in the age we have
studied the second is more in evidence. The earthly
existence of the Society founded by Jesus Christ some-
times affords matter for criticism and furnishes a
pretext for unbelief or strife, but belief in her divine
authority surely stores up merit in the sphere of
faith, and ever keeps a crown in reserve for the moment
of victory.

400

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

(A) BOOKS

ACHERY (d'). — Spicilegium, sive collecHo veterum aliquot scriptoriim,

Paris, 1723.
Almainus (Jacobus). — De dominio naturali, civili et ecclesiastico, in

Ojpp, Gersoniij t. ii. col. 961 ; De Audoritate Ecdesiae et condliorum

generalium, Ibid., t. ii. col. 976.
Antonin (Saint). — Summa historialis. Florence, 1741.
Aretinus, Leonardus (Brunus). — Rerum suo tempore in Italia ges-

tarum cammentarius ah anno 1378 usque ad annum 1440, dans

MuRATORi, Ber. Ital Scrip., t. xix. pp. 909-942. Mediolani, 1731.
Argentre (d'). — Colledio judidorum. Paris, 1736.
Arnauld (Antoine). — iJdairdssements sur VautoritS des condles

gdnSraux et des papes. An explanation of the real meaning of the

three decrees of the fourth and fifth sessions of the Council of

Constance against Schelstrate's dissertation, 1701. Place and

publisher unknown.
AsCHBACH (J.). — Geschichte Kaiser Sigmunds. Hamburg, 1838-1845.
Baeten (J.). — Verzameling van Naamrollen Betrekkelijk de KerkelijJce

Geschiedenis van het AartsUsdom van Mechelen. Malines. Date

and publisher unknown.
Ballerini. — Be potestate ecdesiastica, in Migne, Theolog. cursus

computus, t. iii. p. 899 et suiv.
Baluzius (Steph). — Vitae Baparum Avenionensium, hoc est historia

pontificum Bomanorum qui in Gallia sederunt ah anno Christi MCCCV.

usque ad annum MCCCXCIV. Paris, 1693.
Baudrillart, Dictionnaire de tJiMogie catholique, fasc. xxi. col.

1200. 1907.
Baye (Nicolas de). — Journal of the Societe de I'Histoire de France,

par Alexandre Tuetey, 1885.
2c 401

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Beaucourt (Du Fresne de). — Histoire de Charles VIL Paris, ] 882.
Benoist (Charles). — La politique du roi Charles F., la nation et la

royautL Paris, 1886.
Berger.- — Joh. Huss. und Konig Sigismund, Augsbourg, 1871.
Bernhardt (W.). — Zur Geschichte der Konstanzer Konzils. Marbourg,

1891.
Bess. — Joh. Gerson und die Kirchenpolitik Parteien Frankreichs vor dem

Krnizil zu Pisa. Marbourg, 1890. — Frankreich und sein Papst von

1378 bis 1394. 1904.
Bliemetzrieder. — Die general Konzil im grossen abendlandischen

Schisma. Paderborn, 1904. — Die Konzilsidee unter Innocens VIL

und Konig Ruprecht von der Pfalz. 1906.
Blumenthal (H.). — Die Vorgeschichte des Konstanzer Konzils. Halle,

1897.
Bonet-Maury. — Gdrard de Groote, un prScurseur de la Rdforme.

Paris, 1878. — Les prScurseurs de la Riforme. Paris, 1904.
BoNNECHOSE (]£mile de). — Jean Hub et le Goncile de Constance.

Paris, 1847. — L^ettres de Jean Hus, avec une preface de Martin

Luther. Paris, 1850.
BossuET. — Defensio declarationis Cleri Gallicani, 1. x, c. 12 (alias

xiv. c. 12). — Appendix ad defensionem, 1. i. c. 5.
Bouix (D.).—Tradatus de Papa uhi et de concilio cecumenico. Paris,

1869.
Bourgeois du Chastenet. — Nouvelle histoire du Concile de Constance.

Paris, 1718.
Brann (Henry). — The Schism of the West and the Freedom of Papal

Flectims. New York, 1895.
Breviscoxa (Joannes). — Tractatus de fide et Fcclesia, Romano Pontifce

et Concilio Generali, in 0pp. Gersonii, t. i. col. 805.
Brown (E.). — Fasciculus rerum expetendarum etfugiendarum. Londini,

1690.
Cappenberg. — Utrum Hussi doctrina fuerit haeretica ? Munster, 1834.
Ch^NON. — Dans V Histoire gdndrale du 7P siMe a nos jours, publiee

sous la direction de Lavisse et Rambaud, t. iii. Colin, 1894.
Chevalier (Ulysse). — Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen dge.

Paris, 1877-1883.— ie Mysthre des Trois Doms. Lyon, 1887.
Christophe (J.-B.). — Histoire de la PapautS pendant le XIV' sikkj

avec des pikes justiflrxitives. Lyon-Paris, 1863.

402

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

Chronic. Karoli VI. (The Monk of Saint-Denis). — Collection de

documents inMits sur VHistoire de France (^dit. Bellaguet). Paris,

1839-52.
Chroniques de France (edit. Paulin, Paris). Paris, 1836-40.
CiACONius (Alph.). — Vitae et res gestae P&ntificum Romanorum et S. R.

E. Cardinalium . . . ah August. Oldoino, S. J. recognitae, t. ii.

Eomae, 1677.
Clemangis (Nicolaus de). — Opei'a omnia. Lugduni Batavorum, 1613.
Contelorius (F.). — Martini V. vita ex legitimis documentis collecta.

Romae, 1641.
Creighton. — A History of Papacy during the Period of the Reformation :

vol. i. The great Schism, The Council of Constance. London, 1882.
Degert. — La fin du schisme d' Occident en Gascogne. Privat,

1902.
Delalonde. — Mude historique et critique sur le grand Schisms.

Eouen, 1875.
Delaville le Roulx. — La France en Orient au XI V siecle. Paris,

1886.
Denifle. — Die Universitliten des Mittelalters. Berlin, 1885.
La desolation des Sglises, des monasthes et des hopitaux durant

la guerre de Cent ans. Paris, 1899.
et Chatelain. — Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis. 4 vols.

Now ready. Paris, 1890 and following.
Denis. — Huss et la guerre des Hussites. Paris, 1878.
DiNAUX (Arthur). — Notice historique et littSraire sur le Cardinal

Pierre d'Ailly. Cambrai, 1824. — Mdmoires de la SocietS d'Smulation

de Camhrai, 1825, p. 207.
DoLLiNGER (J.). — Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte, t. ii. 1'^ partie,

2^ edit. Eatisbonne, 1843.
DouET d'Arcq. — Choix de pieces incites du temps de Charles VI.

Societe de I'histoire de France, 1863.
Droste (von). — Die Dioceze Luttich zu Beginn des grossen Schismas.

Munster, 1904.
Du BouLAY. — Historia Universitatis Parisiensis, t. iv. 1300-1400;

t. V. 1400-1500. Paris, 1668 et suiv.
DUPUY. — Histoire du schisme, 1378-1420. Paris, 1654.
Ehrle. — Martin de Alpartils, Chronica actitatoriim temporihus Domini

Benedicti XIII. Paderborn, 1906.

403

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Epinois (Henri de 1'). — Le gouvemement des Papes et les revolutions

dans les ^tats de VJSglise, 2« 6dit. Paris, 1867.
Erler (G.). — Zur Geschichte des pisanischen Concils (Programm des

Nicolai-Gymnasiums in Leipzig), Leipzig, 1884.

Dietrich von Nieheim, sein Leben und seine Schriften. Leipzig, 1 887.

EUBEL. — Die p-ovisiones praelatorum. Edmische Quartalschrift. Rom,

1894.
Die Avignmesische Obedienz der Mendikantenorden . . . zur

Zeit des grossen Schismas. Paderborn, 1900.
Hierarchia catholica medii aevi. Munster, 1898 et 1901.

Fages (R. p.). — Histoire de saint Vincent Ferrier. Paris, 1893. —

2^ ^dit., Louvain, Uystpruyst, 1901.
FiNKE, — Acta Concilii Consianciensis, t. i. Munster, 1896.
Forschungen und Quellen zur Geschichte des konstanzer Concils.

Munster, 1889.
Fraikin, Les comptes du diocese de Bordeaux, from 1316 to 1453.

Rome, 1903.
Friedrich. — Die Lehre des Joh. Bus und ihre Bedeutung fur die

Gegenwart. Ratisbonne, 1862.

Joh. Huss, ein Lebensbild. Francfort, 1864.

Froissart (Jehan). — Chroniques, edit. Kervyn de Lettenhove.

Bruxelles, 1867-1877; edit. Raynaud.
Fromme. — Die spanische Nation und das konstanzer Condi. Munster,

1896.

Die Wahl Martins F., dans Edmische Quartalschrift, t. x. 1896.

Gams (B.). — Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae quotguot innotuerunt

a beato Petro apostolo. Ratisbonne, 1873.
Gayet (Louis). — Le grand Schisms d' Occident. Paris, 1889.
Gerson (Johannes de).— Opera, edit. Richer. Paris, 1606.— ^it.

Ellies-Dupin. Antwerpiae, 1706.
Gieseler (J.-C.-L.) — Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte, t. ii. 3rd and

4th parts. Bonn, 1829-1835.
Gold AST. — Monarchia Sancti Eomani Imperii. Francofordise, 1614.
Goller. — Papst Johann XXIIL und Konig Sigismund im Somrmr

1410. Rome, 1903.
Gratius (Orthuinus). — Fasciculus rerum expetendarum et fugiendarum.

Colon. 1535; ond. 1590.

404

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

Gregorovius (F.). — Geschichte der Stadt Bom im Mittelalter vom

fiinften his zum sechszehnten Jahrhundert, 3^ edit., t. vi. et vii.

Gotha, 1879-1880.
Grube (Karl). — Gerhard Groot und seine Stifiungen. Koln, 1883.
GuiRAUD (Jean). — L'Mat Pontifical aprhs le grand Schisme. Paris,

1897.
Haller, Papstum und Kirchenreform. Weidmann, 1903.
Hardt (H. von der). — Perum Concilii (Ecumenici Constantiensis. . . .

Francofurti et Lipsiae, 1697-1700. — Index by Bohnstedt, 1742.
Herman von der Hardt und sein seeks. Paderborn, Schoningen,

1889.
Hartwig (0.). — Leben und Schriften H. von Langensteins. Marbourg,

1857-1858.
Hautcoeur (M«' 'Kd.).—Histoire de Saint Pierre de Lille. Paris, 1899.
Hefele. — Histoire des Conciles, t. x. et xi., traduits par MM.

GosCHLER et Delarc. Paris, 1869.

Beitriige zur Kirchengeschichte. 1864.

Henke. — Joh. Has und der Synode von Konstanz. Berlin, 1869.
Hergenrother (J.). — Handhuch der allgemeinen Kirchengeschichte,

t. ii. et iii. Fribourg, 1876-1880. Trad, fr., Paris, 1880-94.
HiNSCHius (P.). — System des katholischen Kirchenrechts mit besonderer

Bilcksicht auf Beutschland. Berlin, 1869-1883.
HiRSCH. — Die Ausbildung der Konziliarentheorie. Yienne, 1903.
Histoire litteraire de la France, t. xxiv. Paris, 1862.
HoFLER (0.). — Buprecht von der Pfalz, genannt Clem, romischer Konig.

Fribourg-en-Brisgau, 1861.
Anna von Luxemburg, Kaiser Karls IV. Tochter, Konig Bichards

II. Gemahlin, Konigin von England, 1382-1394. (Benkschriften der

kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosoph.-hist. Klasse,

t. XX. pp. 89-240.) Vienne, 1871.

Aus Avignon. Prague, 1868.

Die avignonesischen Pdpste, ihre Machtfillle und ihr Untergang.

{Almanack der kaiserl. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2P annee, pp.

231-285.) Vienne, 1871.

Magister Johannes Hus. Prague, 1864.

Hurler. — Die konstanzer Beformation, und die Concordate von 1418.

Leipzig, 1867.
Illyricus (Flacius). — Catalogus testium veritatis. Lugduni, 1597.

405

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

IsSET (E.). — Die lieformation in Konstanz. Freiburg, 1898.
Jahr.— Die Wahl Urbans VI. Halle, 1892.

Janssen (Joh.). — Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des
Mittelalters, t. i. 9^ ^dit. Fribourg-en-Brisgau, 1883. Trad. fr.
par E. Paris, Plon, 1889.

Frankfurts Reidiscorrespondenz nebst anderen verwandten Aden-

stucken von 1376 bis 1519. Fribourg-en-Brisgau, 1866.
Jarry. — La vie politique de Louis de France^ Due d'OrUans. Paris,

1889.
Jeep (Arminius). — Gerson, Wicleff et Huss. Goettingue, 1857.
JouvENEL DES Ursins. — Eistoire de Charles FI., Pantheon litte-
raire. — Choix de chroniques, Nouvelle collection de Memoires
(Michaud et Poujoulat), t. ii. 1836.
Kaiser (Hans).— iTtmi^ Karl V. von Frankreich und die grosse Kirchen-

spaltung. Miinchen, 1904.
Kaufmann (Josei).—Fin Traciat uber die Frage der Absendung eines

Legaten nach Deutschland, 1394.
Keppler. — Die Politik des Kardinals-Kollegium in Konstanz. Munster,

Doctor-Dissertation, Heiligenstadt, 1899.
Kehrmann. — Frankreichs innere Kirchenpolitik von der Wahl Clemens
VLI. bis zum Pisaner Condi. lena, 1896.

Die capite agendorum. Miinchen, 1903.

Kervyn de Lettenhove. — La Belgique sous la domination des dues
de Bourgogne, text, lat., t. i. Chronique de Jean Brandon, moine
des Dunes. Bruxelles, 1870.

Jean sans Peur et Vapologie du tyrannicide. Bruxelles, 1861.

Kneer. — Die Entstehung der conciliarien Theorie zur Geschichte des
Schismas und der Kirchenpolitiken. Eome, 1895.

Kardinal Zdbarella. Munster, 1901.

Krummel. — Leben des J. Huss. Kempten, 1873.

L argent (Aug.).— Le^wis dmn^es a la Faculty de tMologie de Paris,

1899-90.
L'EcUY. — Essai sur la vie de Jean Gerson. Paris, 1832.
Lenfant. — Histoire du Concile de Pise. Amsterdam, 1724.

Histoire du Candle de Constance. Amsterdam, 1714.

Lenz (M.). — Konig Sigismund und Heinrich der Fiinfte von England.
Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Zeit des Constanzer Concils. Berlin,
1874.

406

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

Lenz (M.). — Drei Tractate aus dem Schriftencyklus des constanzer

Concilsuntersucht, Marbourg, 1876.
Lesquen et MoLLAT — Mesures fiscales exerc4es en Bretagne par les

Papes d' Avignon. Paris, 1903.
Lindner — Beitrdge zu dem Lehen und den Schriften Dietrichs von Niem.
Locke (Clinton). — The Age of the Great JVestern Schism. Edinburgh,

1897.
LoRENZ (0.). — Fapstwahl und Kaiserthum. Bine historische Studie aus

dem Staats- und Kirchenrecht. Berlin, 1874.
LoSERTH (J.). — Beitrdge zur Geschichte der husitischen Bewegung. III.

Der Tractatus de longevo schismate des Abtes Ludolf von Sagan.

{Archiv filr osterreich. Gesch., t. Ix. pp. 343-561.) Vienne, 1880.

* /. Huss und JViclif. Prague, 1884.

Die Streitschriften. Vienne, 1893. — Das Vermeintl.-Schreihen

Wiclifs an Urban VI. Munich, 1895.
Maimbourg. — Histoire du grand schisme d' Occident. Paris, 1722.
Mandonnet (R. p.). — Beitrdge zur Geschichte des Kardinals Giovanni

Dominici, Zusammenberufung des Konzils zu Konstanz. Historische

Jahrhuch, 1900.
Mansi. — Sacror. Conciliorum nova et ampUssima collectio. Florentiae,

1759.
Marmor. — Das Concilium in Konstanz. Konstanz, 1898.
Martene (Edmond) et Durand (Ursin). — Veterum scriptorum et

mmiumentorum historicorum., dogmaticorum, moralium amplissima

collectio. Paris, 1724-1733. — Thesaurus novus anecdotorum. Paris,

1717.
Masson. — Jean Gerson, sa vie, son temps, ses oeuvreb. Lyon, 1894.
Meyer (Jac.). — Annates rerum Flandricarum. Anvers, 1569.
Monstrelet. — Chroniques, edit. Buchon, 1836.
MoROSiNi. — Chronique, Soc. de THist. de France, 1899.
MuLLER (F.). — Der Kampf um d. Auctoritdt auf d. Concils zu

Cmstanz. Berlin, 1860.
MuNTZ (Adolphe). — Nicolas de Clamenges. Strasbourg, 1846.
(Eug.). — Les arts a la cour des Papes pendant le XV" et le XVF

siecle. Paris, 1878.
MuRATORl (L.-A.). — Rerum Balicarum scriptores praecipui ah anno aerae

Christianae D ad MD, quorum potissima pars nunc primum in lucem

prodit ex codicibus, etc. Muratorius collegit et ordinavit, etc. Mediolani,

1723-1751.

407

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

NiEM (Theod. de). — De scismate^ libri iii. 6dit. Erler. Lipsiae,

1890.
Nemus unionis. Bale, Guarini, 1566.

Palacky (F.). — Geschichte von Bohmen, grosstentheils nach Urkunden

und Handschrifteriy t. iii. Prague, 1836-68. — Documenta Joannis

Huss. Prague, 1869.
Pastor. — Histoire des Fapes depuis la Jin du moyen age, traduite par

FuRCY Eaynaud. Paris, 1888.
Philastre (Guillaume), Journal de. — MS. bibl. Vatic., 4173 and 4175,

partly edited by Finke, Forschungen und Quellen. . . . Paderborn,

1889.
Pis AN (Christine de). — Livre des fails et bonnes nrnurs du sage roi

Charles V. — Dans Mdmoires sur V Histoire de France, Y^ serie, t. v.

et vi. — Nouvelle collection des Mdmoires (Michaud et Poujoulat),

t. ii.
Platina. — Opus de vitis ac gestis Summorum Pontificum ad Sixtum IF.,

pontificem maximum, deductum. Venise, 1479.
POGGius (Joh.-Franc). — Epistolae. Editas collegit et emendavit,

plerasque ex codd. msc. emit, ordine chronologico disposuit notisque

illustravit Thomas de Tonellis, vols, i.-ii. Florentiae, 1832-1861.
PuYOL. — Edmond Packer, Hude historique et critique sur la renovation

du Gallicanisme. Paris, 1876.
Rastoul. — E unite religieuse pendant le grand Schisme d' Occident.

Bloud, 1904.
Reinke. — Frankreich und Papst Johann XXIII. Munster, Diss.,

1900.
RiCHENTAL (Ulrich von). — Chronik des Constanzer Concils, heraus-

gegeben von M. R. Buck (Bibl literar. Vereins in Stuttgart, 158).

Tiibingen, 1882. Edition de Marmor, Freiburg, 1873.
RiCHERius (Edmundus). — Libellus de ecclesiastica et politica potestate.

Coloniae, 1701. — Vindiciae doctrinae majorum scholae Parisiensis.

Coloniae, 1683.
RoCQUAiN (F^lix). — La Cour de Borne et Vespit de Bdforme avant

Lather, t. iii. Paris, 1897.
ROSLER (Aug.). — Cardinal Johannes Dominici, 0. Pr. Fribourg,

1893.
RosSMANN. — De externo Concilii Constant, apparatu. lena, 1856.
Roth. — Zur Bibliographie des Henricus Hembuche de Hassia.

Leipzig, 1888.

408

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

Salembier (Louis). — Petrus de Alliaco. Lille, 1886.

Deux conciles inconnus de Cambrai et de Lille au temps du grand

Schisme. Lille, 1902.
Salutatus Linus Colucius Pierius. — Epistolae ex cod. MSS. nunc
primum in lucem editae a Jos. EiGACCiO. P. i., ii. Florentiae,

1741-1742.
Sauerland (H.-V,). — Das Leben des Dietrichs von Nieheim nebst einer

Uebersicht uber dessen Schriften. Gottingen, 1875.
SCHARDIUS (Sim.). — De jurisdictione, auctoritate et prceeminentia

imperiali, ac potestate ecclesiastica variorum auctorum scripta. Bale,

1566; Strasbourg, 1618.
SCHELSTRATE. — Tractatus de sensu et auctoritate decretorum Concilii

Constantiensis, sessione quarta et quinta. Romae, 1686.
SCHEUFFGEN. — Beitrdge zu der Geschichte des grossen Schismas.

Fribourg-en-Brisgau, 1889.
SCHMITZ (J.). — Diefranzos. PolitiJc und die Unionsverhandlungen des

Concils von Constanz. Duren, 1879.
SCHOLZ. — Die EucJckehr Grregors XL von Avignon nach Bom im Jahr

1377. Hirschberg, 1884.
SCHULTE (Job. -Fried, von). — Die Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur

des canonischen Bechts von Papst Gi-egor LX. bis zum Condi von Trient.

{Geschichte der Quellen, usw. von Gratian bis auf die Gegemvart, t. ii.)

Stuttgart, 1877.
Schwab {J oh.-Bsi^t.).— Johannes Gerson, Professor der Theologie und

Kanzler der Universitcit Paris. Wurzbourg, 1858.
SiEBEKiNG (H.). — Beitrdge zur Geschichte der grossen Kirchenspaltung,

Programm der Annen-Bealschule zu Dresden. Dresden, 1881.
Die Organisation und Geschdftsordnung des Constanzer Concils.

Leipzig, 1875.
SORBELLI. De moderno Ecclesiae schismate. Trattato di Vincenzo

Perrer, Eoma, 1900.
SoucHON (Martin).— i)^6 Papstwahlen in der Zeit des grossen Schismas,

Braunschweig, 1899.
Steinhausen (F.). — Analecta ad hisioriam Concilii Constantiensis.

Berolini, 1862.
Steinherz.— Das Schisma von 1378 und die Haltung Karls LV.

Mayence.
Stevenson.— r^e Truth about J. Wiclef. 1883.

409

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Stuhr. — Die Organisation und Geschdftsordnung des Fisaner und

Konstanzei' Concils. Schwerin, ]891.
Thomassy. — Jean Gerson et le grand Schisme d' Occident, 2^ edit.

Paris, 1852.

TOSTI (Lmgi).—Storia del Concilio di Costanza. Napoli, 1853.
Trutmann (A.). — Das Konklave aufdem Condi von Constanz. Strass-

burgische Dissertation, Freiburg in Br., 1899.
TSCHACKERT (P.).— Peter von Ailli {Fetrus de Alliaco). Zur

Geschichie des grossen abendldndischen Schismas und der Eeform-

concilien von Fisa und Konstanz. Gotha, 1877.
Urie (Theod.). — Historia Concilii Constant, dans VoN der Hardt,

t. i. et t. iv.

Valois (Noel). — La France et le grand Schisme d'Occident. Paris,
1896 et 1902.

Van der Haegen. — Jean Huss, exposd de sa doctrine 5wr I'^glise.
Alen9on, 1888.

VoiGT (G.). — Die Wiederhelehung des classischen Alterthums oder das
erste Jahrhundert des Humanismus. Berlin, 1880-1881.

(J.). — Stimmen aus Piom ilher den plipstlichen Hof im filnf-

zehnten Jahrhundert {Raumers Histor. Taschenhuch, 4° annee).
Leipzig, 1833.

Von Wessemberg. — Die grossen Kirchenversammlungen des XV. und

XFI. Jahrhunderts. Constance, 1840.
Wylie (J. H.). — The Council of Constance to the Death of John Hus.

London, 1900.

ZuRiTA (Geronimo). — Los cinco lihros primeros de la segutida parte de
los anales de la caron^ de Aragon. Carag09a, 1669.

(B) PERIODICALS

Alrmnach der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Wien, 1851
and following.

Anxilecta juris pontificii. Geneva, 1872.

Archiv der Gesellschaft fur iiltere deutsche Geschichtskunde zur Bef&rder-
ung einer Gesammtausgabe der Quellenschriften deutscher Geschichten
des Mittelalters. Herausg. von J.-L. Buechler, C.-G. Dumge und
G.-H. Pertz, Frankfort a. M. und Hannover, 1820-1874.— iVewes
Archiv der Gesellschaft fur iiltere deutsche Geschichtskunde, t. i. et
suiv. Hannover, 1876.

410

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

Archiv fur Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters. Herausg.

von P.-H. Denifle und P.-F. Ehrle. Freiburg, 1885-1893.
Archiv filr osterreichische Geschichte. Wien, 1880.
Bihliothhque de VEcole des Charles. Paris, 1872.
Briegers Zeitschrift filr Kirchengeschichte. Gotha, 1877.
Bulletin critique. Paris, 1896.
Bulletin d'histoire eccUsiastique de Valence. 1884-85.
Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften philoso-

phisch-historische Classe. Wien, 1871.
Der Katholik. Mainz, 1900.
Etudes publiSes par les Phres de la Compagnie de JSsus. Paris, 1897 et

1903.
Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte. Gottingen, 1883.
Historische polit. Blatter fur das katholische Deutschland. Miinchen,

t. iv.
Historische Jahrhilcher. Munster, 1893, 1894, 1900.
Historische Zeitschrift. Miinchen, t. xxviii.
Revue catholique de Louvain. Louvain, 1876.
Bevue d'histaire eccUsiastique. Louvain, 1901 et 1904.
Revue du clergS frangais. Paris, 1904.
Revue des Etudes histm'iques, Paris, 1904.
Revu£ d'histoire et de littSrature religieuse. Paris, 1896.
Revue historique. Paris, 1886 et 1901.
Revue de Lille. Lille, 1899.
Remie des Questions historiques. Paris, 1887, 1896.
Revue des Sciences eccUsiastiques, publi4e par des professeurs de
VUniversitS catholique de Lille, 1886, 1887, 1889, 1890, 1896.
Amiens-Lille.
Rimische Quartalschrift fur christliche Alterthumskunde und fur
Kirchengeschichte. Eom, 1887 et 1896.

411

INDEX

ACHERY, d', 45

Agnani, 54 ff.

Ailly, d'j see Peter

Alexander V. (Peter Philarghi),

250-255
Alexander, Natalis, 263
Alvarez Pelagius, 12
Amedee of Savoy, 6
America, 3

Antoninus, St, 15, 52, 60, 263
Aquileia, see Ravenna
Arcq, Douet d', 135
Arnold of Brescia, 30
Augustinus Triumphus, 12
Avignon, 7, 17, 72, 166 if., 233

Bacon, Roger, 84, 88

Baeten, 71

Bale, see Basle

Baluze, 23

Bartholomew Saliceto, 84

Bartholomew Valori, 278

Basle, Council of, 115 f., 381 ff.

Beghards, 122

Benedict XII., 18

Benedict XIII., see note p. 139
(Peter de Luna), 35, 45, m, 78 f.,
135, 142 if., 186, 291, 350 if.

Benedict XIV. (pseudo-pope), 356 f.

Benoist, 63

Berliere, 17

Bernard, St, 8, 17

Bess, 262

Bliemetzrieder, 55

Boniface VIII., 23

Boniface IX. (Peter Thomacelli),
106, 197 if.

Bordas, Tolra de, 258

Bossuet, 113, 263, 309

Boucicault, Godfrey, 161 f., 167 if.

Boucicault, John, 6, 200, 223, 231 f.

Boulay, du, 25

Bressolano, 8

Bridget of Sweden, 23, 77

Cajetan, 10, 263

Casimir, 4

Catherine of Siena, 14, 23 f., 51, 76

Catherine of Sweden, 76

Cauchon, see Peter

Charles of Bohemia, 8

Charles IV., Emperor, 67

Charles V. (of France), 49, 58, m,
140

Charles VI. (of France), 101 f., 125

Charles Malatesta, 241, 249, 269,
270, 279, 339, 346 f.

Chastenet, Bourgeois du, 105

Chenon, 48

Christophe, 25

Clemangis, 132, 135, 188, 231

Clement v., 5, 18, 20

Clement VI., 5

Clement VII., see note p. 139
(Robert of Geneva), 25, 34, 44 f.,
59, 135 if.

Clement VIII. (Gil Muiloz, a pseudo-
pope), 356

Collette, St, 80, 200

Collucio Salutato, 56

Comneni, 7

Conrad of Gelnhausen, 86, 129

Constance, Council of, 79, 115 f.,
280 if.

Corvin, see John de M. Corvino

Cramaud, see Simon

Dante, 15
Delalonde, 66
Deniile, 18, 50, 86
Dollinger, 106
Dominici, see John
Durrieu, 60

EcuY, r, 86

Elizabeth of Schonau, 14

413

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

England, 66, 68, 121 f., 370
Epinois, de 1', 24
Eubel, Conrad, 4, 47, 72
Eugenius III., 8

Eugenius IV. (Coudulmaro), 279,
308

Faces, 79

Falkenburg, see John

Felix IV., 47

Felix V. (pseudo-Pope), 381

Ferrer, Boniface, 253, 263

Ferrer, Vincent, 31, 78, 125, 130,

200
Finke, 112
Flanders, 68 f., 102
Pleury, 34
Fondi, 49, 57
Froissart, 2

Gams, 4

Gardar, 4

Gatarus, Andrew, 107

Gayet, 25

Geiger, 15

Gerard Groot, 77, 92

Gerson, 112, 114, 116, 120, 191, 196,

206, 262, 287, 294, 332 f.
Gilbert of Ravenna, 2
Goldast, 8
Grabmann, 10
Grabon, see Matthew
Greenland, 4
Gregorovius, 3
Gregory XI., 16, 23, 28
Gregory XII. (Angelo Corrario),

219, 344 ff.
Groot, see Gerard
Grube, Karl, 78
Guiraud, 108
Guy de Malesset, 34, 46, 65, 68, 95,

191, 222, 245

Hardt, von der, 86

Hartwig, 86

Hase, 24

Haureau, 100

Hautcoeur, Mgr., 70

Hefele, 44

Henry of Langenstein, 61, 85 f.,

311
Hubler, 86
Hunyadi, 4, 396

Huss, John, 4, 12, 19, 111, 122,

272, 306, 312 ff., 272

Innocent VII. (Cosmo Meliorati),

199
Ireland, 68

Jahr, 35

Jandun, see John

Jane, see Joanna

Jarry, 91, 102

Jean de Nevers, 6

Jerome of Prague, 328 f.

Joan of Arc, 126, 333, 356

Joanna of Naples, 57, 71, 76, 102,

184
John XII., 47
John XXII., 5, 11, 20
John XXIII. (Balthazar Cossa), 254,

265 ff.
John Boucicault, see Boucicault
John de Brogny, 277
John de Cros, 34, 64
John Dominici, 279, 345
John of Falkenburg, 334
John of Jandun, 11, 288
John of Lignano, 56
John of Monte Corvino, 5
John of Paris, 11

John Petit, 151, 202, 207 t, 332 f.
Jorga, 90
Jouvenal des Ursins, 15,1 203, 214

Kneer, 85

Knopfler, 32

Ladislaus op Naples, 199, 240,

274
Ladislaus of Poland, 4
Langenstein, see Henry, 61
Le Clerc, 13
Lenfant, 278
Lenz, 87
Lindner, 27
Livonia, 4
Lodi, 277

Louis of Bavaria, 8, II3 21
Louis of Bourbon, 6

Maimbourg, 26
Maizieres, Phil

ip de, J
Malan, Chavin de, 62
Malatesta, see Charles

de, 9, 90

414

INDEX

Marmor, 278

Marsilius of Padua, U, 238

Martene, 17, 154

Martin V. (Odo Colonna), 306 f.,

365 f.
Matthew Grabon, 335
Mezeray, 26
Mignatz, 23
Miraeus, 71
Muratori, 40

Nicholas of Cusa, 112, 123

Niem, Theodoric of, 51, 106, 125,

266, 282
Norway, 4

Occam, see William
Orsini, 30, 86f.,299r.
Oxford, 152
Ozanam, 15

Paleologi, 7

Paris, University of, 9 ff., 57, 64,

74, 94, 104, 113, 131, 383
Paris, Paulin, 90
Pastor, 14, 19
Perpignan, Council of, 235
Peter d^Ailly, 20, 30, 65, 87 f., 104,

111 if., 124, 135, 138, 192, 200,

207, 216, 261, 273, 282 if., 296,

375
Peter of Ancorano, 248
Peter of Aragon, 23
Peter Cauchon, 221, 333
Peter de Corbiere, 2, 21
Peter Corsini, 33
Peter de Cros, 53 f.
Peter Dubois, 11
Peter Flandrin, 33
Peter Flotte, 11

Peter de Luna, see Benedict XIII.
Peter of Luxemburg, 80
Peter Plaoul, 158, 202, 207, 217
Petit, see John
Petrarch, 8, 15, 23, 168
Philip the Fair, 13, 110
Pileo de Prata, 69, 83, 96, 107
Pisa, Council of, 235 f., 243
Pisan, Christine de, 50
Pistoja, Synod of, 117
Pius II. (iEneas Sylvius), 116
Poggio, 281, 329, 390

Poland, 4
Polo, Marco, 5
Prussia, 4

Ravenna, Council of, 265 f.

Raynald, 25

Reclus ^lisee, 4

Richard II., 68, 152, 184

Richer, 117

Rienzi, 8

Robert of Bavaria (King of the

Romans), 179, 238 f., 247
Robert of Hallum, 271
Rocquain, 12, 14
Roman us (Pope), 2
Rome, Council of, 271
Rossmann, 283
Roth, 14, 86
Roulx, J. Delaville de, 6, 73

Samaran, 17

Savona, 221 ff.

ScheufFgen, 55

Scotland, 66

Sigismund (King of the Romans),

270, 275, 285 f., 291 ff.
Silverius (Pope), 47
Simon Borsano, 33
Simon Cramaud, 142, 157, 207, 209,

253, 271
Simon Freron, 65
Souchon, 98
Spain, 93
Stegner, Heinrich, 278

Tamerlane, 5

Tebaldeschi, 33, 39f.,58

Telesphorus, 123 f.

Thomassin, 18

Tosti, 13

Toulouse, University of, 188

Tschackert, 87

Ulrich op Richtenthal, 278

Urban v., 23

Urban VI. (Bartholomew Prignano),

25, 34, 106
Ursula of Parma, 77

Valois, Noel, 27, 92, 159
Valori, see Bartholomew
Vigilius (Pope), 47
Vin 'ent Ferrer, see Ferrer

415

THE GREAT SCHISM OF THE WEST

Viterbo, 199 f.

Waldenses, 122

Wenceslaus (King of the Romans),

67, 84, 152, 154, 178
Wicliffe, John, 12, 19, 121, 272,

306, 314 if.
William d'Aigrefeuille, 34, 65

William of Bavaria, 11
William of Occam, 11 f., 88, 118
William Philastre, 207, 221, 271,
321, 341

Zababeli^, 238, 259, 271 ff., 275,
283, 296 ff.

TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

Salerabier, Louis

The Great Schism of the

West

BQX

766

.326.

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